COPYRIGHT. 




raster 








PUBLISHED BV 
fl-flRTHUR REflDE 
WILHSLOW G=^9 
NHMCI1ESTER 



HCr r-7 73 






Manchester 

Percv Brothers Ltd., The Hotspur Press, 

Whitworth Street West. 

4 2 9- ^ t> 
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3iT 






TO 

My Dear Wife 

I dedicate this book, because without her co-operation I 
could not have continued my insurance educational work 
for a period of nearly 20 years. This work has involved 
many sacrifices for the public good, but they have been 
made cheerfully. " What do we live for/' asks George 
Eliot, " if not to make life less difficult for each other ? n 

What matter, I or they ? 
Mine or another's day ? 
So the right word be said, 
And life the sweeter made ? 



Preface. 



MOST people consider Life Assurance a dry subject. 
I suppose that I am an exception to the rule ; for 
I find it extremely fascinating. Sir Walter Besant 
advised authors to acquire a special knowledge of one 
subject, and write on that subject. That's what I did 
nearly 20 years ago, and I have been writing about Life 
Assurance ever since. In fact, I have had neither time 
nor desire to write upon any other subject ; for I regard 
Life Assurance as the greatest movement in the world for 
uplifting humanity. 

I have written some thousands of articles about it, and 
many books for the benefit of Agency workers — for the 
men who secure the business. But I have long cherished 
an idea of writing a popular account of Life Assurance, 
and for many months I have been engaged in the intervals 
of a harassing editorial life in trying to put my idea into 
practice. 

" The Story of Life Assurance " is not a large book, but 
large enough for the average man to digest. A famous 
author was once asked to write a biography of Napoleon 
in 36 pages, for an encyclopedia. " Thirty-six pages ! " he 
exclaimed, " the thing is impossible ; give me 36 volumes "I 
The same difficulty confronts the man who would write a 
history of Life Assurance. Mine is not a history, but it 
traces the rise and progress of Life xVssurance, and describes 
its advantages in a style more fascinating than a novel, 
and certainly more useful. There are no diagrams in it, or 
mathematical formulae. " The Story " is a book, not for 
a day, but for all time. Whoever picks it up will, I venture 
to think, read it through from beginning to end. 



Contents. 



i . — The Story of Life Assurance 17 

2. — Insurance of Slaves 25 

3. — The Morality of Insurance 28 

4. — The Sentinel at the Gate 34 

5. — The Doctor in Life Assurance 40 

6. — Actuaries 45 

7. — Seventy Year Clocks 51 

8. — What do you Drink ? 59 

9. — How Old are you ? 63 

10. — Family History 67 

1 1 . — Is Life Assurance Gambling ? 70 

12. — Widening the Door 73 

13. — The Cost of Life Assurance 81 

14. — Better than a Bank 87 

15. — Endowments for Children 90 

16. — How to Retire from Business 94 

17. — The Cash Value of a Man's Life 97 

18. — Better than Consols 100 

19. — How to Insure an Income 103 

20. — Profit-Sharing Policies 106 

21. — Various Forms of Life Assurance 109 

22. — Before the Wedding Ring 113 

23. — The Knight Errant 116 

24. — Not Yet 121 

25. — Progress of Life Assurance 124 

26. — The Clubman 128 

27. — Ambassadors of Insurance 135 

28. — His Last Will and Testament 141 

29. — Proof of Death 143 

30. — Provident Authors 149 

3 1 . — Cornelius Walford 158 

32. — Samuel Smiles and Robert Chambers 161 

33. — Index 8 

7 



Index. 

"A.B.C." Girls 119 

Ab-o'-th'-Yate 59 

Abstainers 38 61 

Accident Policy 115 

Actuaries 45, 49 83 

Addison 54 

Age, Proof of 64 

Age, Limit of 30, 34 43 

Agents' Examination of Candidates 44 

Agents, Industrial 136 

Agents, Ordinary 135 

"A. K. H. B." 31 

Alexander the Great 24 

Alfred, King 17 

Ambassadors of Insurance 48, 55 135 

Amicable Perpetual 19, 20, 21 49 

American Agent 57 

American Co 27 

Arnold, Matthew 142 

Annuity 1O2 103 

Assheton, Rev. W 20 

Babbage, Charles 21, 47, 48 J2 

Barmaids 117 118 

Balfour, A. J 90 

Balzac 144 

Beecher, Henry Ward 6j 

Before the Wedding Ring 113 

Beehives 46 

Better than a Bank 8y 

Better than Consols 100 

Betting on Horses 72 

Berwick-on-Tvveed, Guild of 20 

Besant, Sir Walter 91 119 

Bickersteth, Rev. Edward 29 

Billings, Josh 43 

8 



Blackie, John Stuart 105 

Bonuses, Discounting 85 108 

Bonus Policies 107 

Boyd, Rev. Dr 31 

Byron, Lord 37, 47 103 

Breslau Table of Mortality 54 

British Government 19 47 

Brunton, Sir Thomas Lauder 105 

Building Societies 89 

Business Endowments 92 

Burns, Robert 1 40 157 

Caine, Hall 15c 

Calculating Machines 46 47 

Captains of Industry 89 

Carlyle, Thomas 48, y8 113 

Capitalist, How to Become a 100 

Carlisle Table of Mortality 56 

Cash, Ready 79 

Cash Value of a Man's Life 97 

Catlin's Programme 74 

Chadwick, Sir Edwin 69 

Chambers, Robert 161 163 

Chance, Doctrine of 20 

Census 64 

Cheshire Gamekeeper 60 

Cheshire Police 36 

Cheap Insurance 85 108 

Christian Pulpits 85 

Christian Slave Drivers 25 120 

Church Guilds 18 

Chivalry 117 

Children, Endowments for 90 

Clarke, Sir Andrew 103 

Club, A 52, 54 6 7 

Clubman, The 128 

Cobden, Richard 90 

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 34, 35, 69 1 50 

Companies Extinguished no 

9 



Consols i oo 1 1 o 

Co-operation 71 ioo 

Collins, Wilkie 151 

Cornish Wreckers 28 

Cost of Life Assurance 81 

Crank, The Wily 117 

Cromwell, Oliver 152 

Dale Dyke Catastrophe 121 

Dawson, George 74 114 

Death Duties 145 

De Quincey 35 

Dickens, Charles 114, 152 1 54 

Dine, How to 85 112 

Directors 20, 34, 36 37 

Distrust of Providence 26 29 

Discounting Bonuses 85 

Doctrine of Chances 20 

Doctor in Life Assurance , 40 122 

Dodson, James 21 

Dryden 113 

Duke of Westminster 79 

Duke of Richmond's Factor 33 

Duval, Claude 81 

Dying to Win 71 

Educational Value of Industrial Assurance 34 

Edinburgh Bailie 32 

Endowments for Children 90 

Exeter Hall 29 

Equitable Society 21,22, 49, 150 151 

Evidence of Age 63 

Endowment Assurance 94, 1 14 125 

Family Bible 64 

Family History 67 

Family, Protection for 99 

Famous Policy-Holders 149 

Fanners 31 

10 



Fair, Dr 50 

Five per cent. Policy 104 109 

Foreign Travel 78 79 

Franklin, Ben 86 

France, Government of 45 

French, Dr 41 

Friends' Provident Institution 233 

Friendly Societies 17 

" Female Vultures " 117 

Gambling 70 72 

Game of Life 69 

Gladstone, W. E 63 

Goldbugs 140 

Goschen, Viscount 126 

Goethe 60 

Great Central Railway 94 

Guthrie, Dr 32 1 39 

Grundy, Mrs. . . 118 

Haggard, Rider 109 1 16 

Halley's Table 20 54 

Harcourt, Sir William 100 

Heretics 29 

Heine 64 

Highlander 32 

Home Missionaries ; 131 

Holyoake, George Jacob 106 

How Premiums are Calculated 83 

How Long Should a Man's Legs Be ? 34 41 

How to Retire from Business 94 

How Old are You ? 63 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell 45, 52 89 

House Purchase Scheme 112 

Howitt, William 61 

Hood, Tom 108 

House of Commons 117 

Hugo, Victor 73 

Huxley, Professor 67 68 

11 



Ignorance of Insurance j^ 137 

Ignorant Women 45 

Insurance Immoral 29 

Insurance a Commercial Undertaking 44 

Insurance as a Movement 139 

Is Life Assurance Gambling ? 70 

Industrial Insurance 128 

Infant ? What is an 64 

Institute of Actuaries 56 

Interest High 89 104 

Irish Jarvies 81 

Investment Insurance 87, 94, 99, 100, 105, 108 no 

Joseph an Agent 17 

Johnston, Rev. Dr 32 

Johnson, Dr. Samuel 94, 149 161 

Johnson, Thomas 146 

Kerr, Commissioner 64 

King Among Insurance Ambassadors 48 

Klein, Professor 46 

Knight Errant 116 

Knighthood 138 

" Labour's Reward " 120 

Lamb, Charles 103 151 

Lambert, Rev. Brooke 127 

Landor, Walter Savage 28 

Level Premium 84 

Levy, Amy 63 

Life, Game of 69 

Life Assurance as a Science 20 

Life Assurance Unpopular 161 

Life Assurance Without Medical Examination 43 

Life Assurance, Improvements in 74 125 

Life Assurance Companies' Act 125 

Lincoln, Abraham 40 

Little Tich 41 42 

London Chamber of Commerce io5 

12 






Longfellow 1 43 

Lowell, J. Russell 81 

Louis Philippe 121 

Magistrates, Brutal 117 

Man, Cash Value of a 97 

Maple, Sir Blundell 70 

Manchester Company 38 

Manchester Traveller 72 

Married Women's Property Act 75 76 

Mathematicians 46 

Medical Examinations 34, 39, 40, 60 68 

Men, Fat and Thin 41 

Men, Ugly 47 48 

Mercers Company 18 19 

Merry England 117 

Method in Madness 146 

Middle Ages . 17 

Mill, John Stuart 103 

Miiller, Max 114 

Milton, John „ 34 

Milne, Joshua 56 

Monilaws, W. M 132 

Morality of Insurance 28 

Moral Reformers 138 

Mores, Edward Rowe 21 22 

Mortality Tables 54 

Murchison, Dr. Charles 60 

Napoleon 44 

National Point of View 1 29 

Natural Premium 84 

New England Mutual 151 

Nisbet, J. F 70 

Noah's Ark 17 74 

Non-medical Examination 34 

North American Indians 74 

Northampton Table of Mortality 54 

Norwegian Law 115 

13 



Xot Yet 121 

O m - Table of Mortality 56 

Ogle, Dr 63 

Paris, a Bohemian in in 

Parson Pearson 17 

Parliamentary Aid 19 47 

Parsons Oppose Insurance 29 138 

Parry, Judge 131 

Paul Pry 60 

Petrie, Dr 33 

Pilot of the Directors 50 

Pitman, Isaac 29 30 

Pitbrow Women 117 

Phonographers 29 

Plays for Imbeciles 161 

Policies, Convertible 105 

Pope 45 

Postal Guide 74 

Post Magazine 158 

Prejudice against Insurance J3 

Probate of the Will 145 

Premiums, Calculation of S3 84 

Profit-sharing 106 

Providence 25, 29, 31, 32 152 

Provident Authors 149 

Progress of Life Assurance 1 24 

Promissory Notes 141 

Proof of Death 143 

Publicans 67 

Public Taste Demoralised 161 

Puritans 140 

Quakers 29 

Reade, Charles 135 

Reed, Thomas Allen 29 

Registers of Births and Deaths 44 

14 



Rembrandt 146 

Russell Family 73 

Ruskin, John 70 

Rylands, John 95 

Safety the First Consideration 49 88 

Savings Bank 87 102 

Selborne, Lord 87 

Scientific Savings 87 

Sentinel at the Gate 34 

Seventy Year Clocks 52 

" Seventeen Offices Table " 56 

Sieveking, Dr 61 

Sir Walter Scott 79 154 

Slaves, Insurance of 24 

Smith, Sydney 79 

Smith, Dr. Adam 149 

Smiles, Samuel 161 163 

Southampton 117 

Southey, Robert 2^ 151 

South American Slave Owners 25 

Specialities of Insurance 109 

Speculators 88 104 

Spencer, Herbert 71 

Spencer, Reuben 92 

Stephen, Leslie 150 

Suicide 75, 145 146 

Surrender Values 75, 77, 93 no 

Sylva Carmen 117 

Tables of Mortality 54 

Talmage, Dr 17 

" The Society for Equitable Assurances " 21 

Thompson, Dr. Symes 41 

Thompson, Sir Henry 59 

Tich, Little 41 42 

Trade Guilds 18 

Tree, Sleeping in a in 

Turgot 45 

15 



Twain, Mark 41 

Tennyson 73 

Teetotalers 38 61 

Tillotson, W. F 142 

Umbrellas 31 

" Uncle Tom's Cabin " 25 

Ugly Men 47 

Valuation 106 

Victorian Era 124 

Vivian, Henry 106 

Vision of Mirza 1 53 

Walford, Cornelius 17 158 

Warner, Robert 38 

Watson, Joseph 60 

Wesley, John 24 40 

Weight in Relation to Insurance 40 41 

Whittier 140 

Wilberforce, William 40 

What do you Drink ? 59 

What are you Worth ? 97 

Widening the Door y^ 

Will, Make a 141 

Woman a Liar 63 

Woman a Target for the Company Promoter .... 104 no 

Women, Ignorant 45, 104, 118 143 

Women, Pitbrow 117 

Women as Barmaids and Waitresses 117 120 

Women Hounded by Puritans 117 140 

Worry Kills 1 04 1 05 

Yorkshire Speculator 71 

Young, Arthur yS 

Youth the Best Time 122 

Zola Emile 118 



16 




_S\s£ 0-v/^_ 



UFE-TlSSURimCE- 



SC£? • S0£3 



nors 



This -fine old world of ours is but a 

child 
Yet in the go cart. Patience, give it 

time 
To learn its limbs. There is a hand 

that guides. 

— Tennyson. 

THE principles underlying Life Assurance are as old as 
history. According to Dr. Talmage, God is the 
author and originator of the system ; the corn cribs 
of Egypt formed the first working Company to dispense the 
blessings of insurance. Parson Pearson (Buffalo) begins 
the story with Noah, claiming that the Ark was the first 
paid-up policy, and that the first Mutual Insurance Society 
was organised in Egypt when God's insurance agent, 
Joseph, under the inspiration of religion, provided that 
each farmer should pay a premium of so many bushels of 
grain during the years of plenty that would return to his 
family during the years when he was no longer able to 
provide for them. In all ages, and in all countries, men 
have clubbed together for self-protection. Friendly societies 
existed among the ancients. Some had a system of collecting 
fees and paying benefits ; in others, money was called for 
when there was a demand for funds to assist a member. In 
others, again, there was a regular collection of fixed amounts, 
and the payment of certain definite benefits as they matured. 
Mr. Cornelius Walford was of opinion that King Alfred 
first laid down the principles of mutual association 
and combination for good purposes. During the 
earlier centuries of the Middle Ages the poor ,. were 
b i 7 



cared for by the Church. The benefits granted were food and 
clothing, housing, and medical attendance. This work was 
maintained through grants and bequests made to the Church. 
In the 14th century Guilds were formed which did excellent 
service for their members. In that century men appear to 
have lived an ideal life. The trade guilds looked well after 
the workers ; the fear of poverty never was before them ; 
an eight hours' working day was universal, and there were 
no women and child workers. The ordinances of the Guild 
of Berwick-on-Tweed, for instance, provided that " whoso- 
ever shall fall into old age or poverty, or into hopeless 
sickness, and he has no means of his own, shall have such 
help as the Aldermen, Dean, and Brethren of the Guild 
shall think right, and such as the means of the Guild shall 
enable to be given." 

" The great man helped the poor, 
And the poor man loved the great." 

But Guilds were found inadequate to provide for the wants 
of a family when the bread-winner was removed by death ; 
and it does not appear that any successful effort was accom- 
plished until the beginning of the 18th century, when the 
Mercers' Company were induced by the Rev. W. Assheton, 
D.D., to insure lives. In Watts's Life of Dr. William 
Assheton, printed in 17 14, evidence is given of the good 
work done by this pioneer of life assurance protection : 

"I shall not publish what sums have already been paid ; what 
widows are now jointured, and what sums they do now receive. 
It is more for my ease and satisfaction that persons concerned 
should consult the book published by the Wardens and so easy 
to be had by anyone. The company have received by sub- 
scriptions above ^50,000, and do now pay out of the same 
^2,800 per annum to widows. So this can be no advantage 
to their own private persons, but some loss to the whole at 
present, which makes the wardens more strict and backward 
in taking in subscriptions than formerly. Neither did the Doctor 
gain a farthing by it though they presented him £160, for he 
often assured me that he had been at ^200 expense from the 
beginning of the project. Yet he rejoiced and gloried at the 
successful finish of this work." 



The assurance scheme of the Mercers' Guild proved, 
however, a failure, after an existence of 46 years. The 
cause of the failure was simply the want of proper materials 
for measuring insurance risks. Dr. Assheton had calculated 
his premiums far too low, and had failed to graduate them 
according to age. Fortunately, Parliament took a generous 
view of the mistake, and passed an Act granting to " The 
Commonalty of the Mystery of the Mercers " the sum of 
^3,000 per annum towards liquidating their assurance 
debts, the grant being for a term of 35 years, recoverable 
from the duties on coals. With this assistance, the great 
Guild soon retrieved its losses, remaining as rich as ever, 
after paying in full every man, woman, and child interested 
in their insurance undertaking. 




The Directors Sat Round the Board Room Table 
in Beautiful Robes, Trimmed with Fur. m 



A more ambitious attempt to provide insurance protection 
was made in 1705, when the Amicable Perpetual Assurance 
was formed by Royal Charter, in the reign of Queen Anne.- 
It is on record that the directors sat round the Board Room 
Table in beautiful robes, trimmed with fur. Candidates were 
required to appear personally before this august assembly and 
voluntarily make oath as to their state of health, to the satis- 
faction of the Board. An explanation of their system is quoted 
from a " New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," 
published in 1744 : 

We have also insurances for lives, in virtue of which, when 
the person insured dies, a sum of money becomes payable 

19 



to the person on whose behalf the policy of insurance was granted- 
The principal insurance office of this kind is that of the Amicable 
Society for a perpetual assurance, kept in Sergeant's Inn, Fleet- 
street, London. 

In this office, after paying the charges of the policy and ios. 
entrance money, each person pays £$ per annum, by quarterly 
instalments, and from these payments the dividends, which 
usually amount to ^ioo and upwards, are to arise. All persons 
admitted are to be between the ages of twelve and forty-five, 
and in a good state of health. Any person is allowed to have 
two or three insurances or numbers on the same life, whereby 
such person will be entitled to a claim on each number so in- 
sured ; and every claimant is empowered to put in a new life 
— in the room of the one deceased — within twelve calendar 
months next after the end of the current year. 

By becoming members of this Society clergymen, physicians, 
lawyers, tradesmen, and all whose income ceases at the time of 
their death, may, in all probability, leave to their families a 
claim of not less than ^ioo for every ^5 annually paid in. 

The claim of Life Assurance as a science at that time appears 
to rest on the fact that the premium rates were to some extent 
based on mortality observations, and, although the scientific 
accuracy of modern Life Tables was then impossible, the 
business acumen of the directors is sufficiently exemplified by 
the width of the safety margin in the rates which they 
charged. The article concludes : 

The value of insurance upon lives depends upon the probability 
of the continuance of any proposed life or lives during any 
proposed term. Any question of this kind may be determined 
from Dr. Halley's table (1692), and from the principles of the 
Doctrine of Chances. But, as far as we can learn of the practice on 
such occasions, the premiums paid to insurers are generally 
higher than any computation founded on observations concerning 
the probability of human life will warrant. Thus, it is not un- 
usual to make a person pay 5 per cent, for the insurance of his 
life for a twelvemonth — that is, in case the person dies within 
the year the insurer is to pay ^100 for every ^5 received. Now it 
appears, from Dr. Halley's table, which estimates the probability 
of life low enough, that 5 per cent, is an adequate value only 
for a life of an advanced age, such as sixty-four. 

As a comparison of the rates charged in those " good old 
times," with those for a similar benefit to-day, it may be stated 

20 



that the premium to insure a person aged 25 for one year for 
£100 is £1, and, for a person aged 45, £1 12s. 6d., whilst the 
average rate for all ages between 15 and 45 is only £1 5s. 6d., 
or, to put the point in another way, the premium paid for 
£100 of insurance protection 150 years ago would now pur- 
chase term insurance for £400. In all such cases the contract 
would expire at the end of 12 months. 

It is obvious, therefore, that if the directors of the Amicable 
erred at all, they erred on the side of safety. According to 
Charles Babbage (Comparative View of the Various Institu- 
tions for the Assurance of Lives, 1826), "this rate of 5 per cent, 
was probably fixed upon from its appearing that the annual 
number of deaths in London was nearly one in twenty of the 
population." But an actuary considers this view incorrect, 
because the persons who made the rate were not students of 
such statistics in life contingencies as then existed, but practical 
business men who applied to the problem the same rule of 
thumb considerations which they were accustomed to adopt 
in fixing premiums in other classes of underwriting ; and 
because he is unable to find any confirmation of the statement 
that the rate of mortality in London was one in twenty — that 
is, 50 per 1,000. Whether correct or not, the Amicable 
appears to have been a substantial Insurance Office ; for it 
maintained a separate existence for 161 years, until 1866, 
when it was taken over by an up-to-date Society. 

The history of life assurance in England really dates, how- 
ever, from 1762, when the first Office was founded to insure 
lives at premiums graduated to the various ages at entry. 
It is called " The Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives 
and Survivorships," and was established by Deed Inrolled in 
his Majesty's Court of King's Bench at Westminster. It was 
projected in 1756 by James Dodson, author of "The Mathe- 
matical Repository," who had been declined by the Amicable, 
because his age exceeded 45. He considered his rejection 
inequitable, and therefore took steps to form a Society on an 
equitable plan. But the man who carried the idea to a practical 
conclusion is credited to Edward Rowe Mores, under whose 
inspection the business was first started, and whose services 

21 



were recognised by his election as a director for the whole term 
of his natural life. Mr. Mores played for some years a prom- 
inent part in the fortunes of the Society. He was mainly 
instrumental in procuring the deed of settlement, which it took 
six years to obtain. In that deed the objects of the Society 
are thus described : " It appeareth that many advantages and 
great benefits may issue and be secured to great numbers of 
persons in particular stations of life and circumstances and 
fortune from the establishment of a Society to be composed 
of such persons as shall be qualified and willing to become 
eventually contributors for equitable assurance on lives and 




Robert Southey. 

survivorships upon premiums proportionate to the chance of 
death attending the age of the life to be assured." 

It is impossible to imagine why application for a Charter of 
Incorporation was opposed by the Law Officers of the Crown ; 
but success eventually crowned the renewed efforts of its 
promoters. Like every other Society, the Equitable had its 
own bye-laws ; in fact, it was burdened with them. There 
were not fewer than 70 in 1893, when a successful effort was 
made to the High Court of Justice to obtain a new constitution, 

22 



which swept away the old millstones to progress. One of the 
bye-laws limited profits to the oldest 5,000 policies. Evidently, 
Robert Sou they was one of the lucky 5,000 ; for he took 
considerable pleasure in speculating upon the probable amount 
of his bonuses. He held policies for £4,000 in all ; and, at 
his death, the Society paid his heirs over £10,000. 




23 



II. 



Insurance of Slaves. 




In returning, I read a very different 
book, published by an honest Quaker, 
on that execrable sum of all villainies, 
commonly called the Slave Trade. I 
read of nothing like it in the heathen 
world, whether ancient or modern ; 
and it infinitely exceeds, in every in- 
stance of barbarity, whatever Christian 
slaves suffer in the Mohammedan 
countries. 

— John Wesley 

ALTHOUGH the principles of insurance, as now under 
stood, are essentially modern, born of the extraordinary 
development of commerce during the past century and a 
half, the ancients practised some form of contract for securing 
risks akin to insurance. In the time of Alexander the Great 

24 



(356 B.C.) the Greeks had a scheme of insuring runaway slaves, 
by which the contracting parties undertook, for a yearly 
contribution of eight drachmas for each slave in the army, to 
make good his price, in the event of his elopement. 

The South-American slave-owners were the successors of 
the Greeks. So far as insurance upon their own lives is 
concerned, they were at first bitterly opposed to it. They 
considered insurance a reflection upon Providence, but held 
more elastic views when the question of insuring their slaves 
was placed before them. Human cattle were valuable prop- 
erty, bought and sold in the open market ; men and women 
were stripped stark naked and flogged whenever their master 
suffered from a bad liver. If they died, what did Simon 
Legree care ? Were not his niggers insured ? But Legree 
was a better man than his sons. To-day, the white Christian 
of the Southern States gouges the black man's eyes out ; 
gashes him with knives ; burns him alive over a slow fire 
of green wood, or tickles him with red-hot irons. 

In the days depicted in " Uncle Tom's Cabin," slaves were 
insured in lots. Thus, an old document tells about " Negro 
Policy No. 365 " insured by the Phoenix Insurance Co., of St. 
Louis, dated March 10, 185 1, and signed by John B. Camden,- 
president, and W. H. Pritchartt, secretary. The premium 
was 85.39 dols. (£17) and the risk 8,000 dols. (£1,600) for 
three months from noon of March 4, 185 1, to noon of June 
4, 185 1, on sixteen slaves as follows : Tom, Frank, Sophie, 
Eviline, Jordan, Daniel, Ann, Hester, Henry, Lew, Zelina, 
Ellen, Nelson, Mary, Charlotte and Ann, in favour of Bolton, 
Dickins and Co., Memphis, Tenn., being at the rate of 500 
dols. (£100) on the life of each one who might die during the 
continuance of the policy. There was a loss sustained under 
this policy, as the following endorsement shows : 

Received of the Phoenix Insurance Company 498.08 dols. 
(£99) in full, in payment of negro girl, Charlotte, insured under 
this policy, No. 365, less forty-seven days' interest. 

Bolton, Dickins & Co. 

Memphis, May 21, 185 1. 

As a rule, however, it appears to have been the practice to 
issue a policy on each individual life. In the following case 



the woman is known by a single name, and her age is not 
given, nor any other description of her than the mere title 
by which her owner knew her in distinction to his other 
human chattels. The policy, which is a model of the standard 
that pertained to that phase of the business, is for but one 
year, but it gives the slave-owner the right to renew it for one, 
two, or three additional years. The full text of the policy is 
as follows: 

" Slave Life Insurance Policy. 

No. 1,143. 
" The Albemarle Insurance Company, Charlottesville. 

" This Policy of Insurance witnesseth : That The Albemarle 
Insurance Company, in consideration of the sum of Twelve 
Dollars to them in hand paid by 5. W. Green, of Henrico Co., 
Virginia, do assure the Life of Letty, a slave, in the County 
of Henrico, State of Virginia, in the amount of Four Hundred 
dollars, for the term of one year, to wit : From the Twenty-first 
day of March, one thousand eight hundred and ftlty-nine (at 
noon), unto the Twenty-first day of March, one thousand eight 
hundred and Sixty (at noon). 

" And the said Company do hereby promise and agree to and 
with the said assured, his executors, administrators and assigns, 
well and truly to pay or cause to be paid, the said sum insured, 
to the said assured, his executors, administrators or assigns, 
within ninety days after due notice and satisfactory proof of 
ownership and of the death of said Slave Letty. 

" Provided always, and it is hereby declared to be the true 
intent and meaning of this policy, and the same is accepted 
by the assured upon these express conditions, that the said 
slave is the fee simple property of the party insuring (or if 
otherwise, as stated in the declaration), and in case the said 
slave now engaged as a farm hand shall be engaged in any occupa- 
tion more hazardous, or shall, without the consent of this Company 
previously obtained and indorsed upon this policy, pass beyond 
the limits of the State of Virginia, or in case the assured shall 
have already any other insurance on the slave hereby insured 
and not notified to this Company, and mentioned in, or indorsed 
upon, this policy, or shall hereafter effect any other insurance 
upon the said slave without the consent of this Company first 
obtained and indorsed upon this policy, or in case the said slave 
shall commit suicide, or shall die by means of any invasion, 
insurrection, riot or civil commotion, or of any military or 
usurped power, or by the hands of justice, this policy shall be void, 
null, and of no effect. 

" And it is also understood and agreed to be the true intent 
and meaning of this policy that if the declaration made by the 
said B. W. Green's agent bearing same date of this policy, and 
upon the faith of which this agreement is made, shall be found 

26 



in any respect untrue, then in such case this policy shall be null 
and void. The interest of the assured in this policy is not 
assignable, unless by consent of the Albemarle Insurance Com- 
pany, manifested in writing. This insurance may be continued 
for such further term as shall be agreed on, the premium 
therefor being paid and indorsed on this policy, or a receipt being 
given for the same. In witness whereof, the Albemarle In- 
surance Company have caused these presents to be sealed with 
their seal and signed by their president and secretary, this 215/ 
day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and fiity-nine. 

Attest : W. T. Early, President. 

John Wood, Jr., Secretary. 

"It is hereby expressly agreed that the said B. W. Green 
shall have the privilege of continuing the within policy of 
insurance on the slave Letty for the further period of three 
years, from and after the 21st day of March, eighteen hundred 
and sixty, provided he shall, on or before the said 21st day of 
March, i860, 1861, 1862, pay the within mentioned premium of 
twelve dollars, and further medical examinations will be dis- 
pensed with. 

John Wood, Jr., Secretary." 

Even respectable Companies transacted this class of in- 
surance business, the first claim paid by an American In- 
surance Co. being on the life of a slave. 

Happily, slave insurance is now a thing of the past ; but 
it is a phase of the subject which is interesting, from an his- 
torical point of view, and deserving of permanent record. 
" The sum of all villainies " is abolished. But whether the 
black man is any better off is doubtful. We have now to 
abolish in Britain the worst slavery of those who make it 
their very plan of life to be always paupers and self-sold 
slaves. How can self-imposed slavery be abolished ? 
Not by iron cannon, not by the butt end of a musket, not 
by the policeman's baton, but by the silver-tongued 
eloquence of the Insurance Agent. If he can't do it, no 
other man has a ghost of a chance. 




III. 



The Morality of Insurance. 

Divinity is not worth having, 
much less paying for, unless it 
teaches humanity . 

— Walter Savage Landor. 

IN many old taprooms on the Cornish coast, ancient, 
though not venerable, natives talk regretfully of the days 
when the harvest of the sea was worth more than all the 
work on shore ; who babble of fights half in the surf and half 
on the strand, between men struggling for their lives and 
human fiends thirsting for their goods. One told a gruesome 
story how ships were deliberately lured to their fate. A ship's 
lantern was tied to the horns of a cow, and the animal driven 




The Rocking of a Ship's Light on a Stormy, but 
Open Sea." 



along the cliffs. The tossing of the lantern on the cow's horns 
exactly resembled the rocking of a ship's light on a stormy, 
but open, sea. Where one ship is another can go, and so the 
vessel sailed along unconscious of its doom until it broke on 
the rocks. The improvement of the Coastguard service has 
done what the pulpit failed to do — altered public opinion on 
the subject of wrecking. 

28 



A parallel case of wrecking comes from Ministers of Religion 
in relation to their attitude to life assurance. Fierce were 
their onslaughts against the new-fangled scheme of protecting 
the family against want. Even the Quakers anticipated objec- 
tions ; for,in the prospectus of the Friends' Provident Institu- 
tion, we read: "The first is, that it implies a distrust of Provi- 
dence ; the second, that it bears somewhat the character of a 
lottery. Further consideration will, it is apprehended, show 
the fallacy of both these ideas j it will be seen that the plan 
bears rather the character of a community of property than 
of any selfish, hazardous, or distrustful speculation. It is the- 
compact of a number of persons who agree together to put 
what they can spare into a common stock for their common 
benefit." Against one Office (established in i8i2)anaccusation 
was made that it set forth, in its profane tabulations, a perfectly 
reliable degree of certainty in human life, which Scripture, 
on the contrary, had declared to be of all things the most 
uncertain. It was charged with Immorality, as an inter- 
ference with the ways of Providence. In short, the parsons 
of that time were the men of the false lights. Are their suc- 
cessors any better to-day? Do they ever show any wisdom 
in their treatment of national questions ? This is not the place- 
to discuss their attitude to questions other than to the question 
of life assurance; but, so far as that is concerned, its progress 
owes little to ministers of religion. 

We may be pardoned, however, for referring to their 
opposition to one reform — the writing by sound. When. 
Isaac Pitman invented phonography the parsons had a 
fling at phonography, in which they saw an enemy to> 
religion. It appears that one member of the clerical 
profession, the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, denounced 
mesmerism, phrenology, Chartism, and socialism as the 
stalking-horses behind which the most Satanic lies, and the 
most absurd blasphemies, are sent forth against the Word 
of God ! Phonographers were regarded as heretics. When 
it was proposed to hold a meeting in that centre of sweetness 
and light, Exeter Hall, Mr. Thomas Allen Reed had some- 
difficulty in persuading the Committee that the reform 
sought by the promoters of the meeting had no reference 

29 



to theology, but that it was simply a means of rendering 
reading and writing a pleasure, rather than a toil. But, in 
spite of the denunciation of parsons like Bickersteth, 
phonography made great progress throughout the United 
Kingdom. So did Life Assurance. 

In Scotland, their attacks at last aroused the thinking por 
tion of the people, and excited inquiry, which resulted in a 




(2/!^^^ 



firm conviction of the value of the system. Thus life assurance 
triumphed over prejudice, and gradually won its way in public 
esteem. But the opposition of parsons will never be forgotten. 
In their turn, the narrow-souled creatures were lectured by 
the broad-minded and large-hearted men. " The days have 

3° 



been," said A. K. H. B. (the Rev. Dr. Boyd;, "in which it 
was taught from Christian pulpits that it is sinful for a man 
to insure his life. Probably the rcuikest nonsense ever heard 
in this world at various times has been taught from Christian 
pulpits. I have the happiness to speak to an intelligent 
congregation. It is not necessary here to preach as if I were 
preaching to idiots. And he is an idiot, and an incorrigible 
idiot, who doubts if it is right for a man to avail himself of a 
means God has put in his reach to provide for his children 
when he is dead, by practising a little self-denial when he is 
living. I am perfectly clear what He would have said on the 
question, who, when asked by a crafty adversary to run into 
risk which could be honestly avoided, answered, 'Thou shalt 
not tempt the Lord thy God.' " 





Perhaps the most common objection to life assurance was 
based upon a theory that to insure one's life was to distrust 
Providence. What is Providence ? The dictionary defines it 
as " foresight ; timely care or preparation ; the care and 
superintendence of God over His creatures ; a name applied 
to God." The word seems to have been in common use in 
Scotland. Thus, Scottish people refused to employ " fanners " 
in winnowing grain, designating their effect as " Deil's Win'," 
and when umbrellas were introduced, many people objected 
to them because Providence had decreed that the rain was 
meant to fall on the just and the unjust ! They changed 
their minds, however, when it came to saving their own skin. 
For instance, a Highlander, when asked to give thanks to 
Providence for a wonderful escape from drowning, said : 
" Hooch, yes, Providence wass goot, bit I wass very cleffer 
myseel, too." Sandy understood better than his teachers 
the true meaning of Providence. Apparently, also, the 
Edinburgh Bailie (or magistrate) has little faith in Providence 

3i 



as parsons understood that word. He was admonishing a 
poor woman to break off laudanum drinking. " With God's 
help, I will, sir," she replied. " You'll need all that," remarked 
the Bailie, " and your own strength of mind, too." This 
incident recalls the reply of Dr. Guthrie that Providence 
helps those who help themselves. " I feel as a minister," he 
said, " how important it is that, on sick or dying beds, the 
mind should not be distracted by domestic cares ; and what 
better earthly relief from these than an Office such as this. 
People say, 'Trust in Providence.' Well, I say so, tooj but 
I say : ' Trust in Providence and Insure your Life.' " 





" I was Very Cleffer Myseel. too." 



It is not contended that all ministers were alike in their 
condemnation of life assurance. Some exhibited enlightened 
intelligence. For instance, it is on record that the "venerable 
and reverend Dr. Johnston " opened and consecrated the 
business of a Scottish Office "by the utterance of solemn 
prayer ! " Other Offices came into existence, and, gradually, 
pulpit opposition ceased. Occasionally, a practical interest 
in the movement was shown, as in the case of Dr. Petrie. 
When ex-Moderator of the General Assembly, it is reported 
that he never lost an opportunity of holding up life assurance 

32 



as a gospel tenet. If asked by parishioners for an introduction 
to the Duke of Richmond's factor, or steward, the doctor's 
first question always was, "Is your life insured, man?" 

But, making every allowance for these exceptions, ministers 
of religion have done little to promote the insurance movement. 
If they have not opposed it from the pulpit, they have ignored 
it. il Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow 
a camel." 




3>3 



IV. 

The Sentinel at the Gate, 

117// he now retire. 
After appearance, and again prolong 
Our Expectation ? 

— John Milton. 

IN our days the acceptance of a " life " depends largely 
upon the report of the doctor ; but in the good old days 
the directors decided the fitness of an applicant for in 
surance protection. And each Board had its own ideas of 
fitness. The bye-laws of one Society required every applicant 
for membership who resided within 15 miles of London tx> 
appear in person before the Court of Directors, and to make 




Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

oath " that he or she is in a good state of health, and hath no- 
distemper which, according to the best of his or her knowledge- 
judgment or belief, may tend to the shortening of his or her 
days. The attendance of applicants resident more than 1 5 
miles from London was dispensed with if they submitted 
certificates by the minister and churchwardens of the parish,, 
and by the minister of an adjoining parish." But no certificate 

34 



could secure the admission of a man over 45. A bye-law 
barred the way to the acceptance of middle-aged men ; yet, 
notwithstanding care in the selection of members, the Society 

failed to hold its own, and its business was transferred to 
stronger office. 

It is clear, however, that some directors were not very strict 
at times, for they accepted Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was 

never robust. He had suffered from " rheumatism and gout 




"Jump Over the Board Room Table." 



complicated by other disorders ; " but at the time he insured 
his life, it is stated that he had " recovered from physical 
prostration," although under the spell of opium. On the 
other hand, directors rejected De Quincey, who — to quote his 
own words — was " regarded as an abomination of desolation." 
fourteen Offices in succession, he tells us in his Confessions 

35 



im as a candidate for insurance 

\ ground of having owned himself to be an 

51 -.nee," he declares, "was of very 

nyself, though involving some interest to 

is clear, then t this eccentric little man 

.. a gh s< 5< nour, or he would never have submitted 

gs from in< s sake 

i 




<% Jump a Five-barred Gate." 

In truth, it needed no little physical age 1 stand the 

scrutiny c rd of Directors. The test of sobriety adc 

Cheshire police is to make their victim stand on one 
for tive minutes. If he can manage to do that, he is con- 
sidered sober. Thedirec - some insurance orrices demanded 
an acrobatic ; from candidates for admission into 

the charmed circ".. lives. They had to >:. 



the room for ten minutes .-. itl 

it they happened to be fal id to jum] 

Room table to show their nimbi i • 

[ike Lord Byron, he had a club-foot man 

could walk four miles an hour, tutnf a five-barred gati 
ride to hounds. 1 he dire* tor 

condition of one leg, yet thai man lived to I of 8<>. 

And : o disgust 

I principl 
'• first policy. J in a flourisl 

dition to-day, and has taken o 

Sometimes, however, directors atisfied. 

late \':~ • I of King's Colli ribed one 

Board of Dire onsidered t-. appli - t had 

gone through a full course or fagging and ill-usage at I 
had slept in the " long chamber " dormitory all I 
after undergoing all that Spartan training, was still alive, he 
.* he regarded as a fairly safe life for assurance. Her 

t's own v I:. July, 1 826, contemplating 

matrimony, I went, to the Life Insurance .Society for 

a policy ... I went before the Board — some sixteen 
seated at a table covered v en baize — with friend Wray 

at the head. 

M ' You are a Fellow of King's, 1 see, .Mr. Okes, from your 
papers ? ' 

u ' Yes, sir.' 

* ' I infer then, necessarily, that you were at Eton and in 
College ? ' 

" ' Yes, -at.' 

How long were you in College ? 
Eight years.' 

" ' Where did you sleep ? '- 

" ' In the Long Chamber, sir.' 

" ' All that time ? ' 

■ ' Yes, sir.' 

" ' We needn't ask Mr. Okes any more questr 

And they did not." 

Sixty years ago a young man of 21 applied to an insurance 



Company for an insurance on his life. He was not rejected, 
bat he was asked to pay an extra. His life was considered 
risky because he did not drink beer, or rum, or brandy ; in 
a word, he was an abstainer. He declined to pay an extra, 
and immediately took steps to establish a Total Abstinence Life 
Association. That young man was Robert Warner. To him 
was issued the first policy in 1840, and it did not become a 
claim until December, 1896. For six-and-fifty years Mr. 
Warner was a director of the institution of which he was 
practically the founder, and, instead of shortening his life, he 
lengthened it, dying at the age of 81. 

The directors of other Companies relied largely upon their 
agents' view of a Life risk. Thus, a Manchester Company 
(1824) printed the following schedule, which, when filled up, 
enabled the directors to form an opinion of the case : 

Queries to be answered by Agents* 

1 . ARE you acquainted with the party whose life is to be 

insured ? If that is the case, how long have you been 
acquainted with him ? 

2. Have you ever known or heard of his being indisposed ? 

3. If he has been so, what was the nature of the complaint or 

complaints with which he was afflicted ? 

4. Is he at this time, to the best of your knowledge, in perfect 

health ? 

5. Are his habits and manner of living strictly temperate and 

regular ? 

6. Is his complexion sallow ? 

fresh coloured ? 

pale ? 

florid ? 

brown ? 

7. Is he thin ? 

middle sized 

lusty ? 

bloated ? 

8. Is his neck long ? 
short ? 

in proportion to his body ? 

9. Is his chest broad ? 

narrow ? 

middle sized ? 

10. Is he tall ? 
short ? 

of the middle height ? 

11. Does his countenance indicate health " 

38 



13- 



14- 



I5« 



12. Have you observed any defect in his person ? 
If so, of what nature is it ? 

Is there any thing in his manners, conversation, or appear- 
ance, which indicates ill-health, a feeble constitution, 
irregular habits or intemperate living ? 
Are you able to communicate any information as to the 
longevity of his parents and family in general, and the 
diseases to which they have been most subject ? — And 
in particular, whether any of his near relations have died 
of consumption, asthma, or other pulmonary complaints ? 
Is he married ? 

1 6. Do you consider him in all respects a proper person to be 
insured and do you recommend him to the Directors as such ? 
* It is particularly requested that the Agent will give specific 
answers to every one of these questions. 

This plan seems an improvement on the rough-and-ready 
methods in use at that time ; but, as might have been expected, 
it proved a failure. Self-interest clashed with the interests of 
the Company, and resulted eventually in medical selection. 
This is a better method of finding out the weak spots in a 
man's body than the diagnosis of an interested agent ; better 
than getting the victim to hop round a room, or jump over a 
table. 




A Private and Confidential Chat.'' 



39 



The Doctor in Life Assurance. 



" Sirrah, you giant, 
what says the doctor to 
my case ? " 

— Sir John Falstaff, 
Henry IV. 

\ OW long should a man's legs be ? " somebody asked 
Abraham Lincoln, who replied, " Long enough to reach 
the ground." The relationship between height, weight, 
and chest measurement takes a prominent position in the 
report of the medical examiner. If these are not found to be 
in their due proportion the Company may decline the case. 
Men are judged by the following Table, which shows the 
standard weight and height : 



H 



Height, Weight, and Chest Measurement. 



Height. 
5-ft. i-in. 



Macau lay. 
2,000 persons of 
the average age 

of 28 years. 




Hutchinson. 

2,648 Males, 

ages from 15 to 

40 years. 



Medium Chest 

Measurement. 

Allen, 

New York. 



lbs. 

120 
126 
133 
139 
142 

145 
I48 

155 
162 
169 
1/4 
1/9 



inches. 
34 
35 
35i 
36 
37 
37i 
38 
3H 
39 
39i 
40 

40-41 



Under such hard-and-fast rules John Wesley would have 
been rejected ; for his weight was only 120 pounds, and his 
height 5-ft. 5^-in. William Wilberforce weighed only 7 1 lbs. 
Clearly, he would have stood no chance in passing the sentinel 
at the gate, if the standard had been adhered to. Yet Wilber- 

40 



force lived to the age of 74. Thin men have suffered Long 
and patiently at the hands of insurance companies, and have 
been " loaded up " for being " under weight." According 
to Dr. Symes Thompson, the acceptance of a very tall man 
introduces an element of more risk than average risk The 
stout men have, on the other hand, been treated with con- 
siderable leniency. But Dr. French, an American physician, 
who has been discoursing on "Weight in Relation to Insur- 
ance," produces evidence to show that the risks with 
overweights are quite as great as the risks with under- 
weights, though it has been the general practice of Insurance 
Companies to unduly favour the overweights. In every 
case, however, when anv disproportion between height and 
weight appears, the case is either rejected, or accepted at 
an increased premium. Sometimes the Company is satisfied 




(f How Long Should a Man's Legs Be ?" 

with an explanation ; sometimes it will accept a healthy 
man, quite apart from the question of his height and 
weight, as in the case of the comedian " Little Tich." 

Whether this eccentric comedian passed with " flying 
colours," or whether he was " rated up," we have no means 
of knowing ; but the medical examination is a trying ordeal 
to some men. Some have a morbid dread of it. After all, it 
is merely a private and confidential chat with a doctor, and is 
over in a few minutes. It has been travestied times without 
number. Mark Twain, and other American humourists, 
have written funny articles about it, and many of the jokes 

1 




d. -^ , 



s^w d- -^ 




/7, 



^^-y 



////iL/f^ 








L^ 






have enjoyed remarkable vitality, particularly the series of 
grotesque questions and the searching inquiry — " Have you 
had measles, and, if so, how many ? " But the best satire is 
undoubtedly that of Josh. Billings : 

" I kum to the conclusion lately that life was so onsartin, 
that the only wa for me tu stand a fair chance with other folks 
was to git my life insured, and so i kalled on the agent of the 
Garden Angel Life Insurance Company, and answered the follow- 
ing questions, which was put to me over the top ov a pair of 
goold specs, by a slik little fat old fellow, with a little round 
grey head, and as pretty a little belly on him as enny man ever 
owned : Questions 

(i) Are you mail or feemail, if so, pleze state how long you 
have been so ? 

(2) Are yu subject tu fits, and if so, do you have more than 
one at a time ? 

(3) What iz yure precise nteing weight ? 

(4) Did yu ever have enny ancestors, and, if so, how much ? 

(5) What is yure legal opinion ov the constitutionality of the 
Ten Commandments ? 

(6) Du yu ever have enny nite mares ? 

(7) Are yu married and single, or are yu a bachelor ? 

(8) Do yu beleave in a futer state ; if yu do, state it ? 

(9) Have yu ever committed suicide, and, if so, how did it 
seem to affect yu ? 

(10) What are yure private sentiments about yure living 
fourscore, can it be did successfully ? 

After answering the above questions, like a man, in the 
confirmatif, the slik little fat old fellow, with goold specs on, 
ced I wuz insured for life, and probably would remain so for 
a term of years. I thanked him, and smiled one of my moste pen- 
sive smiles." 

It cannot be denied that some of the questions in the medical 
examination seem absurd, but an answer to them is considered 
essential to the forming of a right opinion of the state of a 
man's health ; and whatever may be said against it, the sys- 
tem of medical selection is not likely to be abolished. Recently 
modifications of it have been adopted to meet the wishes of 
sensitive men ; but the phrase " life assurance without medical 
examination " is apt to mislead people in assuming that they 
can secure life assurance protection on the same terms as others 
who undergo the ordeal. For instance, the most popular 
Company transacting this class of business will not accept a 
man or woman over 45, and then only on probation ; it will 
pay only one-third of the sum insured if the policy-holder die 

43 



within the first year; if he die during the second year, two- 
thirds ; after the second year the full sum insured. But, if 
he should die from accident, the full sum is payable at once. 
This is a liberal contract, but it is not life assurance at the 
start ; it is an expedient which will be adopted only by a few 
abnormally-sensitive men. " If you set out to take Vienna" 
said Napoleon, "take Vienna." In other words, don't take a 
substitute for it. 

The conclusion of the whole matter is that there is only one 
way of getting into good Society, and that way lies through 
the door of the medical doctor. He is the sentinel at the gate. 
If you can't pass him, you can't secure life assurance protection 
from the start. True, you can have a make-shift sort of 
insurance, and, on the principle that half a loaf is better than 
no loaf at all, we must be grateful for small mercies ; but) 
unless you are a thoroughly healthy life, you cannot even get 
half a loaf. It may seem unkind to a candidate to be rejected 
as a " bad " life, but Insurance Companies are commercial 
undertakings, not charitable societies. If insurance were 
universal, Companies would probably be quite willing to abolish 
the medical examination and provide insurance protection for 
all ranks and conditions of men. As it is, they are obliged to 
discriminate between good and bad lives ; and an Office is 
successful in proportion to the care with which it accepts lives. 
Let us drop the subjects 






n#— L 




?\\ 1& 



44 



VI. 




One can almost hear 
their brains click. 
— Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

WHEN the great Turgot, while Chief Minister, was asked 
who were the real rulers of France, he replied by leading 
his questioner to a back room in a public office, and 
showing him a committee of commonplace middle-aged gentle- 
men gathered round a table, " Those," he pointed out, a are 
the men who really govern France, and, if I told you their 
names, you might not recognise any of them." Exactly the 
same language might be used in reference to actuaries. Inside 
their own Office they are supreme ; outside they are unknown. 
They write no books ; they make no speeches ; they preach 
no sermons. Parliament knows them not ; on public plat- 
forms they never appear. Yet these obscure men control the 
greatest financial institutions in the world; 

One science only does one genius fit, 
So vast is art, so narrow human wit. — Pope. 
That a certain element of mystery attaches to actuaries is 
inevitable ; but a closer knowledge of them would certainly 
dissipate some false impressions. " Who are those men ? " 
asked a Montreal lady standing in one of the rooms of an hotel 
in which an Actuarial Society was holding its annual meeting. 
" Actuaries," replied the waiter. " Actuaries," she exclaimed, 
" why, they look like respectable people ! " The word "actuary" 
was a new one in her vocabulary, and suggested some sinister 
association not in keeping with the make-up of the gentlemen 
themselves. Even among intelligent men a profound ignor- 

45 



ance of the work of actuaries is occasionally shown. For 
instance, an American actuary says that what dreams he may 
have had that the actuary hoasted a scholarly science were 
rudely dispelled by Professor Klein, one of the profoundest 
and most celebrated of German mathematicians. In the course 
of a conversation, the Professor gravely asked him, speaking 
with great deliberation and distinctness, " Do you have any 
use for mathematics in your work ? " Somewhat stunned, 
the American responded that the actuary's science did indeed, 
he thought, involve some nicety of mathematical calculation. 
"And what, may I ask," pursued the professor, "is an actuary ?" 




An Insurance Company is a Bee Hive. 

What is an actuary ? A mathematical acrobat, a man of 
figures. He fixes the rates to be paid by policy-holders for 
insurance protection, and the calculations relating to the 
reversionary and life interests of his Company. The practical 
application of the principles of life assurance to the computation 
of premiums, reserves, dividends, reversionary values, involves 
mathematical processes which only a trained mathematician 
can perform. In some portion of his work he has the aid of 
a rcad\- reckoner called a Calculating machine. It adds and 

46 



subtracts, multiplies and divides, without the slightest waste 

of brain tissue on his part. The inventor of this machine was 
Charles Babbage. It is recorded that one evening in the year 
1S12, or 18 1 3, he was sitting in the rooms of the Analytical 
Society at Cambridge, with a table of logarithms before him. 
He fell into a reverie, and a friend coming into the room, and 
seeing him half asleep, called out, " Well, Babbage, what are 
you dreaming about ? " "I am thinking," replied Babbage, 
" that all these tables might be calculated by machinery." 
This was the first beginning of Babbage's famous calculating 
machine, and from that time his mind was occupied devising 
plans for carrying out his idea. A full account of it appeared 
in the Edinburgh Review, Jul}', 1834; in the British Almanack. 
1 866; but the best description of the machine was written 
by an Italian named Menabrea, a translation of whose work 
was made by the daughter of Lord Byron. A very interesting 
article on " Arithmetic by Machinery," from the pen of Mr. 
George King, appeared in the first volume of the Argonaut. 
Count Strezlecki remarked to Mr. Babbage that in China, 
where he had lately been travelling, they took a great 
interest in his calculating machine, and particularly wanted 
to know whether it could be put in the pocket. " Tell 
them," replied Mr. Babbage, " that it is in every sense an 
out-of-pocket machine." Though backed by the British 
Government to the extent of £20,000, which he sunk, in 
addition to a part of his own private fortune, he failed to 
make it work, and never completed it. 

Babbage declared himself a philosopher, and published an 
account of his opinions on various subjects under the title of 
" Passages from the Life of a Philosopher." 

"I'm a philosopher. Confound them all — 
Birds, beasts, and men ; but, no, not womankind." 
Like most mathematicians, Babbage was an unsocial man, 
with little or no love for his fellow men. Once, when 
Babbage, Peacock, and Dr. Whewell w r ere walking across 
the quadrangle at Trinity College, Cambridge, Peacock 
observed, " Well, I think we can boast that we are the three 
ugliest fellows in the University." " Speak for yourself,, 
Mr. Peacock/' retorted Whewell, in evident annoyance.. 

47 



This is Carlyle's description of the man : " Babbage con- 
tinues eminently unpleasant to me, with his frog mouth 
and viper eyes, with his hide-bound, wooden irony, and 
the acridest egotism looking through it." 

We do not know any actuary who answers to this description, 
but we commit no libel when we say that, as a man, he is 
very reserved. His whole being seems wrapped up in mathe- 
matical studies. You can almost hear his brains click. But 




A London Ambassador of Insurance. 

they click to good purpose. The whole business of life as- 
surance is founded on mathematical certainty, and it owes 
much to the skill and conservatism of its grand body of 
actuaries. On the other hand, actuaries would be out of 
work if there were no Agents to bring grist to their mill. 
Above is a portrait of a King among Insurance Ambas- 
sadors. 

48 



Whence the origin of the word " Actuary " ? In the old 
days of Rome, an actuarius, or, as it was sometimes called, 
an actarius, was a person who kept the " Acta," or Minutes 
of the Roman Senate, or of the Courts of Law. In modern 
language he was a Registrar or Recording Secretary. This 
meaning continued to attach to the word. An officer with the 
title of Actuary has always been, and still is, attached to the 
Lower House of Convocation of the Church of England. 
When the first British Life Assurance Company, the Amicable , 
was founded, the chief officer was called the " Registrar." 
When, however, the old Equitable was established, in 1762, 
the chief officer was, with equal appropriateness according to 
the ideas of the time, called the " Actuary " ; and the modern 
use of the word may be said to date from the perhaps almost 
accidental selection of the title by the founders of that Society. 
Gradually, but surely, the word acquired a new and more 
limited significance. It was necessary that the Chief Officer 
of a Life Company should not only keep the records of con- 
tracts entered into, but that he should also be able to quote 
the terms on which the Company would be willing to enter 
into such contracts. He naturally, therefore, had to give 
attention to statistics regarding human life, and to their 
bearing on the financial interests entrusted to him, and thus 
it has at last come about that the name is applied only to those 
persons who are authorities in regard to the financial side of 
the science of life contingencies. 

An actuary, then, is not only a mathematical acrobat^ Jbut 
a scientific financier. Plenty of people invest money, but how 
few succeed in getting their own back, to say nothing of in- 
terest ! It would not be true to say that an actuary never 
makes a blunder, but he certainly never makes a plunge into 
the unknown commercial sea. " Not for a day, but for all 
time " is his motto. He stands in the position of a Trustee, 
not to one family, but to thousands of families, and, unlike 
some Trustees, he never betrays his sacred trust. Moreover, 
he succeeds in earning an average of three-and-three-quarters 
per cent, upon his investments. This rate may not seem large 
to the speculator, but an actuary is not a speculator, but an 
investor. Safety is his first consideration. " How long have 

d 49 



you been running on these waters ? " asked a steamboat 
traveller of a pilot. 
" About 20 years ! " 

" Then I suppose you know every rock and shoal, every 
bank and place of danger ? " 

" No, I don't ! " 

" You don't ! " exclaimed the passenger in alarm,- " then 
what do you know ? " 




" I Know where the Deep Water is." 
" I know where the deep water is," was the dignified reply. 

There is a world of meaning in the pilot's answer. The 
actuary may, or may not, know all the rocks and shoals 
which lie hidden in the financial world, but he does know where 
the deep water lies. He is the pilot of the directors. As Dr. 
Farr remarked, " Insurance Companies not only undertake 

50 



the equalisation of life, but also the return of the sums invested, 
with compound interest. They are capitalists constantly 
looking out for long investments, and are well organised to 
deal profitably in securities." 




r 



5* 



VII. 



Seventy Year Clocks. 

Our brains are seventy year 
clocks. The angel of life winds 
them up once for all, then closes 
the case, and gives the key into the 
hands of the angel of the resurrec- 
tion. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

TWELVE young men formed a club, and agreed to meet 
once a year to dine together. No one was ever to be 
admitted to the annual gathering except the original 
members, nor was the number ever to be made up by fresh 
election as they died. The dinner was held without a 
break in the company for a few years, and was always 
prepared for the same number. Then one chair became 
vacant, and a health drunk in silence to the departed 




'The Angel of Life Winds Them Up Once for All." 



member. As years rolled on, another and another seat 
was empty. The men who survived grew old, and clasped 
each other's hands mournfully as they sat round the table. 
It was always the same room, the same kind of lights, the 
same kind of wine, the same kind of flowers j but the faces 
around it changed. 

There came a year when only two old men sat down, 
and over their trembling glasses they named all the brothers 

52 



who once occupied the empty chairs. And then there was 
one anniversary more. The landlord laid the table as 
usual, wondering whether anybody would come ; but, at 
the appointed hour, there entered one old man, who tottered 
feebly to his usual seat, and, after toying a little with the 
food, lapsed into stillness, and was left alone. When the 
room was entered again the old man was dead ! 

You do not envy the feelings of the last man ! Neither 
do we ; but every long life is, in a measure, a repetition 




Vision of Mirza. 
of the story of this club, and everyone who lives until 
nature invests him " with a smooth, shining crown and a 
fringe of scattered white hairs '■ feels like the last survivor 
in that melancholy feast, or, as the sweet old melody puts 
it :— 

Like one who treads alone some banquet hall deserted, 
Whose lights are fled, whose garlands dead, and all but 
he departed. 

53 



Lite Assurance is a Club, and an exclusive Club, too ; 
for no one can gain admittance unless he has proved himself 
sound in mind and body. He may be clever ; he may be 
a paragon of virtue ; he may be rich ; but the test of 
membership is physical health. In other clubs the rate of 
subscription is uniform, as a rule ; but in life assurance it 
varies with the age. Now, before the actuary of a Life 
Office can calculate the contribution, or premium, to be 
paid by each member, he must have reliable information 
as to the number of deaths expected year by year among 
the members. Where does he find the information ? In 
mortality tables. Since 1538 registers have been kept of 
the births and deaths throughout the United Kingdom. 
From these have been constructed, at various times, 
scientific tables of mortality, and upon these the average 
duration of life from any age has been mathematically 
proved. When Addison wrote his Vision of Mirza, he 
little thought that the bridge with the broken arches which 
he saw in his dream, spanning the river of Time, was one 
which human foresight and skill could reconstruct on a 
safer principle, by the same method of turning the means 
supplied by nature to subserve man's advantage. 

The honour of being the father of life assurance is claimed 
for Dr. Halley, Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, who 
constructed a Table of Mortality in 1687, which he formu- 
lated from a series of life registers kept by Dr. Neuman, 
of Breslau, Germany. But the first Table of any note was 
called the Northampton, completed in 1780. The author 
was Dr. Price, who seems to have combined a knowledge 
of mathematics and theology. In the chapter on Life 
Annuities in a report issued by the Commissioners of the 
National Debt, it is shown that the Northampton Table 
was founded upon accounts of the deaths of 4,689 persons 
in the parish of All Souls in that town during forty-six 
years, the accounts being taken from a collection of what 
were called " bills of mortality/ ' made out by the clerk of 
the parish for the purpose of annual distribution at Christ- 
mas. It is added that the parish clerk was wont to give 

54 




A Manchester Ambassador of Insurance 80 Years Ago. 



55 



his annual bill a literary finish by appending verses to his 
list of christenings and burials. 

The Northampton was followed by the Carlisle, which 
was founded on calculations made by Dr. John Heysham, 
of all the deaths that occurred during a period of eight 
years (1779- 1787) in the city of Carlisle. The population 
at that time averaged 8,177. The results deduced from 
these observations were published by Mr. Joshua Milne, in 
18 1 5, in his treatise on Life Annuities and Life Assurance 
This Table has been a continuous legal standard in the 
Courts of England. The third table, published in 1843 
was known as the " Seventeen Offices Table," which 
represented the aggregate results of seventeen Offices, and 
was framed upon 89,305 assurances. The English Life 
Table, published in 1864, was calculated by Dr. Farr, by 
means of Babbage's calculating machine, at the Office of 
the Registrar General, from the returns of two censuses and 
6,470,720 deaths registered in seventeen years. Another 
Table of Mortality, deduced from the collected experience 
of British Assurance Offices, was published in 1869. It was 
known as the Institute of Actuaries' Table, and embraced 
the experience of twenty Offices — ten English and ten 
Scotch ; but the great majority of Offices now use the 
Institute of Actuaries' Hm. Tables. Their healthy male 
Table is calculated from the experience of persons accepted 
as first-class lives, and therefore shows a superior vitality 
over that of the ordinary population. 

The twentieth century, however, requires a more up-to- 
date Table, and this is known in the actuarial world as 
O m . It embodies the results of 30 years' experience of 
44 English and 16 Scottish Offices, and is constructed on 
the most approved scientific principles. One actuary 
declares it the greatest investigation into the mortality of 
assured lives that the world has ever seen. Men live longer 
than their forefathers, as all Tables show — at least, the 
average is higher ; but no individual man knows how long 
he will live. At 30 his " expectation " is 34. He may 
live 50 years ; he may live 34 ; but the period quoted as 

56 



the average is the time that he may reasonably have an 
-equal chance, along with others, of living. Life being 
uncertain, the sooner a man makes up his mind to insure, 
the better. 

An American agent was soliciting a German for insurance 
and was explaining the plans. 

" You see, that if a thousand men pay ten dollars each 
for a year's insurance, that would make ten thousand 
dollars." 




: Mein Krashus" said the German. 



" Yah.' ' 

" And if ten men out of the thousand should die during 
the year, each one could be paid one thousand dollars." 

" Yah." 

" Now, we have Mortality Tables which show how many 
men out of one thousand at any given age will die in a 

57 



' 



year, and we know what we ought to charge for the in- 
surance. But, although we know how many of these men 
will die, we do not know which ones they will be. Perhaps 
you, perhaps Bill Jones, perhaps Dick Robinson, perhaps 
John Smith, per " 

" Mein krashus," said the German, pointing to a door 
across the street from which crape was hanging, " it vas 
John Schmidt. He died this morning. " 

The agent was speechless for a moment, but, recovering 
himself, said : "I told you so ! I didn't know which it 
would be, but I knew it would be one of you/' 

" Mein frent," said the German, impressively, " you vas 
right. I dakes five dousand." 




58 



VIII. 



w 



"What do you Drink?" 

" The more I see of life, the 
more I see that we cannot lay 
down rigid dogmas for every- 
body." 

— Sir Henry Thompson. 

HEN Ab-o'-th'-Yate went to have his life insured, the 
following dialogue took place between the doctor and 
himself : 
What do you mostly drink ? " 



\0WT do you drihkJ 




" I stick to honest fourpenny." 

" Never drink spirits ? " 

" A sope o' rum i' my tay every kissunin, that's aw." 

The question of temperance always occupies an important 

59 



place in medical examination for life assurance. First, an agent 
has to say what he knows about the man; then the man has 
to answer the question in his preliminary proposal: "Are you 
of sober and temperate habits, and have always been so?" 
Naturally, the candidate answers " Yes " ; but when he comes 
before the tactful doctor, careful inquiry is made into the 
amount of stimulants taken daily, and the circumstances 
under which they are taken. When a certain quantity is 
named, he pushes his question further as to how the amount 
is distributed over the day. He views a man in the middle 
ranks of life with some distrust when he acknowledges to 
taking stimulants between breakfast and lunch, or early 
dinner ; for to his mind no habit is more prejudicial to a 
man's constitution than " nipping " on an empty stomach. 

But, whether he " nips " on an empty stomach, or a full 
one, he is usually accepted if his organs be healthy, and his 
family history satisfactory. As the late Dr. Charles Murchison 
pointed out, he who leads a country life, and takes active 
exercise in the open air, can consume, without suffering, an 
amount which would positively be injurious to him were he 
a sedentary student, or a professional man in town. It is on 
record that Joseph Watson, a Cheshire gamekeeper, who lived 
to the age of 104, that he drank a gallon of malt liquor every 
day for 60 years ; that he drank plentifully the latter part of 
his life, but not more, in his own opinion, than w r as agreeable 
to his constitution. This wonderful centenarian was described 
as of low stature, fresh complexion, and pleasant face. Watson 
had evidently a strong body, and this, coupled with the fact 
that he lived an open-air life, enabled him to throw off the 
effects of alcohol. Had he lived a town life, the case would 
doubtless have been different. But Goethe, who did live a 
town life, drank 50,000 bottles of wine in his lifetime, and yet 
lived to old age. Neither the gamekeeper nor the poet was 
ever accused of intemperance, but they would have had a 
difficulty in securing insurance protection in these days, when 
Paul Pry is played in private every day. An old story is this : 

Two old men were brought forward as witnesses in a trial 
where the evidence of " the oldest inhabitant" was required. 

60 



The Judge asked the first what had been the habits of his 
"Very regular, rr. he replied; "I have always been 

sober, and kept good hour- Upon hearing this the Judge 
spoke warmly of the benefits of a regular life. \Vher. 
second old man appeared, the Judge put the same ques~ 
and received this "Very regular, my lard; I have 

never gone to bed sober these forty years. Whereupon his 
bip exclaimed, "'Ha! I see how :: is — Englishmen, like 
English oak, wet or cry, last for - 

William Hov lc quoted this story in a sketch :: 

methods of work and his ways .:' life 3 from his lord: 

and declared that he was more than ever confirmed in his 
opinion of the vitalising inrlue:\:e ;: temperance, good air, 
and daily activity. That some regular tipplers live to old are 
is quite true, but they are exceptions Experience has clearly 
demonstrated that, on an average, the lives iners art 

better than the lives of non-abstainers. From an insurance 
point of view :: pa] .s :: be an abstainer: for, on account :: 
nger life, he receives a much higher bonus than the non- 
abstainer. 

On the other hand, the lives of publicans are regarded with 
ane suspicion by Insurance I xnpanies The business of 

insurance is based on the principle :f average; but there are 
certain occupations which affect the rate of mortality to such 

an extent as to remove them far from :he average; and in 
these cases special rates are charged. It is a remarkable fact 
that, although the publican is well-housed and well-fed, not 
one Office in Britain will accept him at ordinary rates ; : : 
Offices lock their doors against him; 4c charge him €1 extra 
for ever}' £100 of insurance; 6 charge him £2 extra. The 
Companies have no grievance against the publican as such, 
nor do they object to his trade; but he is bad life, a very bad 
one his mortality being 50 per cent, greater than that of the 
average man. Dr. Sieveking [the Medial Adviser in Life 
Assurance) contends that the treatment of publicans is harsh 
and unnecessary, and scarcely compatible with the philan 
thropic spirit which underlies insurance business; but the 
Doctor is not the Paymaster in Life .Assurance. If the publicans 

61 






want insurance protection, they have the remedy in their 
own hands. They are strong enough and rich enough to form 
a Life Assurance Company of their own. Meanwhile, the 
door is practically closed against them in existing Life Offices. 




62 



IX. 



How Old are You ? 




/ cannot remember my country, 
The land whence I came ; 

Whence they brought me and 
Chained me and made me 
Nor wild thing nor tame. 



SO wrote Amy Levy, whose poems are described 
as " immature, imitative, and monotonously sad." 
If Amy were alive and if she wanted Life Assurance, 
she would not only be compelled to give place, but date 
of birth: Moreover, evidence in support of her statement 
would be required by the Company. This, a woman always 
shrinks from producing. In fact, she has a natural aversion 
to tell anybody her age. And when she does tell it, she 
rarely tells the truth. " People lie to a very considerable 
extent," remarked Dr. Ogle. " Women lie about their 
ages. So false, indeed, are the returns which they make, 
that it is impossible to calculate, with any accuracy, 
the value of the lives of our female population. Life 
Tables can be and are constructed ; but they are by no 
means so trustworthy as in the case of males." When Mr. 
Gladstone visited the Isle of Man, during a walk through 
a village, he noticed a woman pitching corn from a cart 
to a stack. He stopped, and, admiring the woman's 

63 



strength, remarked, " My good woman, that is exceedingly 
hard work, and you look well and strong ; may I ask how 
old are you ? " 

"How oul' art thou theeself, thou imperent oul' man!" 
was the old lady's reply. 

That's the attitude taken up by all women, whether 
young or old, whether matrons or old maids. The Census- 
takers always consider this their greatest difficulty . " A 
good deal of trouble is caused/' writes an official, " by 
the reluctance of ladies to put down their exact age on paper. 
They have been known to go abroad until the horrid 
Census is over." 

It is not always possible to furnish evidence of age at the 
time of insuring, but it ought to be produced, and admitted, 
by the Insurance Company at the earliest possible moment. 
Although policies are commonly granted on the faith of 
the statement of age made in the preliminary application,. 
yet it should be remembered that, as the rate of premium 
payable depends on the age of the person, it is of the utmost 
importance that there should be no doubt or mistake on 
this point ; otherwise a policy taken out in good faith 
and maintained for a series of years, may prove void by 
reason of mis-statement of age. 

A man is not always the best authority as to the date of 
his own birth. Heine, for instance, was fond of describing 
himself as " the first man of the 19th century," in allusion 
to his belief that he was born on the 1st of January, 1800. 
But it has been conclusively proved that his birthday fell 
on the 13th December, 1799. This is only a trifling error,, 
but a reference to it serves a useful purpose in pleading for 
accuracy of statement in a proposal form. What evidence 
of age will an Insurance Company accept ? The best 
evidence is a registrar's certificate ; failing that, an extract 
from a Family Bible, or a statutory declaration made 
before a magistrate. A Family Bible entry might not, 
however, be accepted in a Court of Law : " What have you 
got there ? " asked Mr. Commissioner Kerr, in his Court 
at the Guildhall, as a young man, answering to the name 
of Andrew Jenkins, hailing from Shepherd'sJBush, struggled 

64 



into the witness-box, perspiring under the load of a pon- 
derous volume, which he was just able to carry. " Our 
Family Bible " was the reply. 

" Do you want to be sworn on it ? " asked the Judge. 

" Oh, no " ; answered Andrew, "but I am an ' infant/ 
and I brought our Bible as a witness/'' 

The fact was that Jenkins had got clothes from his 
tailor to the extent of £$ 13s., and the tradesman now sued 
him for payment. Instead of sending a cheque, he brought 




the Family Bible into Court to prove that he was still an 
" infant," and, therefore, entitled to have his clothes for 
nothing. Father, he said, had made an entry in the book at 
the time he was born, and this ought to be accepted as 
proof in any Court that he was only an infant. 

" But that is not evidence," said the Commissioner. 

E 65 



"What I " cried the infant ; " the Family Bible not 
evidence ? " 

The directors of an Insurance Company might accept 
such evidence, but, without doubt, it would be more 
satisfactory to both parties to submit a birth certificate. 
According to Morrell (Insurance : A Manual of Practical 
Law), if the age is mis-stated in the proposal form, the 
policy will be void. True, some Companies announce 
that " an error in age does not invalidate the policy " ; 
but, for his own protection, and for the protection of his 
family, every policy-holder should read the conditions of 
his policy, and faithfully observe them. And one of the 
conditions is that he shall furnish proof of age to the Com- 
pany. He may refuse, or neglect, to give it, but it will 
have to be proved before the insurance money can be 
claimed. 




66 



X. 



ss%l* 



Family History. 



to^Sfgii 





" In life's play the player of the 
other side is hidden from us. We 
know that his play is always fair, 
just, and patient, but we also know . 
to our cost that he never overlooks a 
mistake. It's for you to find out 
why your ears are boxed." 

— Huxley. 

WHEN a man proposes to insure his life, the Company 
naturally want to know what manner of man 
he is ; whether he is strong in wind and 
limb, before they admit him into the charmed circle of 
selected lives. An Insurance Company is a high-class Club, 
the passport to which is neither money nor rank, but 
good health. True, money is required to pay premiums, 
but the first test of membership is health. In order 
to find out whether a proposer is eligible, the Company 
compel him to fill up a proposal form, and to state the 
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, con- 
cerning himself. Some people regard the filling up of this 
form as a needless formality ; others give improper answers. 
For instance, when Henry Ward Beecher was asked a 
question as to the health of his heart, he wrote : " Ex- 
perienced a peculiar feeling about the heart during the 
days of my courtship.' ' True, no doubt ; but his answer 
should have been " sound," or " healthy." Upon the 

6 7 



correctness of the proposer's answers, the validity of the 
policy largely depends. 

In addition to the answers supplied by the proposer 
himself, the Company adopt prudential safeguards in 
medical examinations, and in reports of friends of the 
applicant as to his habits of life. As we have already 
remarked, these inquisitions give rise to funny answers. 
One man's answer to the question as to the name of his 
regular medical attendant is emphatic : " Haven't one 
and never intend to." Another, in referring to his father's 
death, says : "I don't know whether the disease or the 
doctors killed him — I think it was both." A solemn- 
looking clergyman stated that his father died at the age 
of 45. To " cause of death," he replied, as coolly as if it 
had been apoplexy or toothache, "he was hanged!" 

Not a few consider that they have given information quite 
full enough in stating that such or such a relative died "from 
natural causes." It is not often, however, that Insurance 
Companies extract from a man as much information about 
his ancestors as was given by Professor Huxley : " My 
father," he wrote, " was a Warwickshire man ; my mother 
came of Wiltshire people. She was a typical example of 
the ' Iberian ' variety — dark, thin, rapid in all her ways, 
and with the most piercing black eyes I have ever seen in 
anybody's head. . . I know of Huxleys in Staffordshire, 
Worcestershire, and Wales, and I incline to think that the 
Huxleys of Huxley (Cheshire) are responsible for most of 
us, and that, upon the whole, we are mainly Iberian 
mongrels, with a good dash of Norman and a little Saxon." 
The reports of private friends furnish side-lights upon 
character, as in the following extract : 

" He is an extraordinary man for eating potatoes, but his 
other habits are good. He is a born teetotaler." 

Paternal pride glows strong in this statement by a proud 
father : "I have one child ; he is in good health and a 
perfect little devil." An applicant of over sixty remarks 
concerning his mother that she was living, at the age of 
about one hundred years, " health being good, but not very 

68 



active." We can imagine the carefulness with which the 
medical directors would feel compelled to examine into the 
application of a man whose mother had ceased doing 
housework after a mere century of mundane existence. 

Fifty years ago, family history was scarcely recognised 
as an element to be taken into consideration in selecting 
candidates. But in our day family history plays an 
important part in a man's chances of success. The age at 
death of parents and grandparents indicates the strength 
or weakness, endurance or feebleness of the body of the 
applicant, and his probable length of days. It is an 
accepted maxim that long life runs in families, and that 
an inherited tendency to attain old age is the primal 
qualification for longevity. When Sir Edwin Chadwick, 
the pioneer of sanitary reform (who died at 90), was asked 
to what he attributed his good health and long life, he 
replied, " I have always taken great care of myself ; I have 
my daily tub, in which I strongly believe. But my great 
age is undoubtedly hereditary, for my father died at the 
age of 84, my grandfather at 95, and my two great-grand- 
fathers were centenarians.' ' 

With such a family record, most men would have no 
difficulty in " passing a doctor " for life assurance ; for 
most companies attach great importance to the law of 
heredity. An increasing number, however, consider personal 
history — that is, the history of past ailments and present 
condition of the proposer as the vital point, rather than 
the life history of his ancestors. 

Life's a game, but a man can play it better if he be 
armed with a Life policy. As Coleridge pointed out — 
" The game of life looks cheerful 
When one carries in one's heart 
The unalienable treasure." 

The " unalienable treasure " is Life assurance, which 
Sir James Crichton Browne declares a branch of mental 
hygiene, because it saves those who avail themselves of it 
from sleepless nights and anxious thoughts, and confers 
tranquillity and confidence, thus contributing to the 
stability and wealth of the mind. 

69 



XL 

Is Life Assurance Gambling? 




You cannot get anything 
oat of Nature, or from God, 
by gambling — only out your 
neighbour. 

— John Ruskin. 

LIFE assurance, it has been contended, is nothing more nor 
less than gambling. This idea, strange as it may seem, 
is seriously held, not by cranks, but by sober-minded 
men. " Insurance is a gamble," declares Sir J. Blundell 
Maple ; " life assurance is merely a form of gambling," pro- 
nounces a Baptist minister. One of the clearest thinkers that 
ever lived, the late J. F. Nisbet, author of The Human Machine , 
held the same opinion. 

" Of all popular forms of gambling life assurance is probably 
the least injurious. Moralists of all shades concur in approving 
it. Yet it runs on all fours with the practice of the Chinaman 
who horrifies these same moralists by offering himself as a 
substitute for execution on the understanding that a certain 
sum of money is to be paid to his family." 

The comparison is not sound. The policy-holder does not 
sacrifice his life in order to provide bread for his family. He 
may, and probably does, make a sacrifice to pay for insurance 
protection, but he has the satisfaction and pleasure of living 
free from worry in so far as the future of his wife and family 
is concerned. Mr. Nisbet's knowledge of life assurance must 
have been very small, or he would never have penned these 
words : 

" What does a man do who insures his life ? He bets a 

70 



certain sum with an insurance company, which, for this purpose, 
may be regarded as a bookmaker, that he will die young ; 
the Company (acting upon information received from the 
stable, i.e., from the actuary) lays odds against that 
contingency. If the insurer does in truth die young, he wins his 
bet, or, in other words, he receives a much larger sum of money 
than he has actually paid in the shape of a stake ; if, on the 
contrary, he lives to an extreme old age, it is the Company that 
wins, since the premiums received with interest thereon exceed 
the amount of the policy, i.e., the sum they had staked. Of 
course, such a method of betting would be ruinous to the insurer 
if he stood alone, since he can only win by dying, and is, therefore, 
precluded personally in all cases from enjoying his winnings." 

The objection is selfish. Death is the fate of all. That 
being the case, a man might just as well be a winner, 
especially when his winnings go to his widow and orphans. 
But a man need not die to win. He can take out an Endow- 
ment policy, which is payable in a given number of years at 
the option of the holder. And, apart from the investment 
side of life assurance, the illustration betrays ignorance of 
the subject. It is on a par with that of a Yorkshire manu- 
facturer, who had engaged in many local speculations, which 
had alw r ays turned out well. He was rather past middle 
age when he decided to insure his life. He passed the 
doctor ; but, when he had paid only one premium, he was 
siezed with an acute disease. His physician revealed to 
him his hopeless state. " By jingo ! " he exclaimed, 
rousing up at once into the old energy, " I shall do the 
insurance company ! I always was a lucky fellow ! " 

Evidently, that man had the gambler's spirit. But, unlike 
the successful gambler, the payment of his claim would not 
pinch anybody; not a person would lose a halfpenny by it. 
Great, indeed, is the difference between gambling and life 
assurance. Here is Herbert Spencer's twofold definition of 
betting and gambling : " First, it is gain without merit ; 
secondly, it is gain through another's loss." The principle of 
life assurance is the very antithesis of gambling. Its aim is 
to extirpate chance and hazard in human life, and to provide 
a certainty for widows and orphans. 

This object is accomplished, not by injuring, or fooling, or 
cheating your fellow man, but by means of co-operation on 

7i 



the part of thrifty, healthy men. If any member of the 
brotherhood is removed by death, the amount of the family 
protection provided by his premium is paid out of a common 
fund. This is not gain " through another's loss," like gambling, 
nor is it " gain without merit," but is the result of a scientific 
system of providing against an inevitable calamity — death. 

That system is called life assurance, and it is based upon the 
law of average, and is not speculation. " Nothing is more 
proverbially uncertain," remarks Babbage, " than the duration 
of human life, when the maxim is applied to an individual, 
but there are few things less subject to fluctuation than the 
average duration of life in a number of individuals." Thus, 
the individual, whose life is uncertain, can, by making himself 
one of a large number of persons, secure the advantage resulting 
from the certainty of their average life ; and the Assurance 
office, making its bargain with a sufficient number of people, 
does a business quite free from speculation. 

Pious people generally regard betting on horses as one 
of the greatest curses in the world. But there are other 
and more dangerous forms of gambling. Millions of people 
gamble with life t yet not a word of protest ever appears 
from the self-elected guardians of our morals. For 
instance, a Manchester traveller had a salary of ^1,500 a 
year ; lived up to his income ; died ; left a wife and family 
almost penniless. But this thick-headed fellow speculated 
on living ; that is, he staked the welfare of his family on 
the chances of his own life. Whether a man gambles 
with life, or with money, he does a risky thing. But he 
has no moral right to imperil the salvation of his wife 
and family by risky investments. The only safe invest- 
ment is a life assurance policy, which will not only secure 
protection to a family, but return the holder 3 or 4 per 
cent, compound interest. 

Stake not all 
On one great speculation : no wise man 
Will hazard what he would not dare to lose. 
The prudent general, though resolved to win, 
Provides for a defeat ; he marches on, 
But has a refuge and a sure retreat 
If he should need them. 

72 



and you must not do that, and if they find thirty years 
afterwards there was something amiss, they will divorce 
themselves from you. These old Companies will not take 
you as you would take a woman at Church — they won't 
take you for better or worse. If there is a mistake about 
your age it is upset. Now you want indisputableness and 
simplicity." These have been granted by the majority of 
Insurance Companies, who now issue non-forfeitable policies. 
11 Look here upon this picture, and on this," said the 
Prince of Denmark to his mother, comparing the pictures 
of his father and his uncle. The difference between 
Hyperion and a Satyr is not more marked than are the 
pictures of the old and the new conditions of life assurance •* 



The Old :— 

A Death policy only. 

Payments for Life. 

Failure to pay premium 
invalidated Policy. 

No Claim paid under six 
months. 

Restricted Travel. 

" Death by Suicide, Duel- 
ling, or the hands of 
Justice " cancelled the 
policy. 



The New : — 

ioo varieties of Policies. 

Limited Payment Policies. 

Widows protected under the 
Married Women's Pro- 
perty Act. 

Endowments issued. 

Surrenders. 

Paid-up Policies. 

Days of Grace. 

No Lapses. 

Non-forfeiture. 

World-wide Travel. 

Prompt Payment of Claims. 

It is difficult, in fact, to tabulate modern improvements 
in life assurance. But even in the good old days all com- 
panies were not tarred by the same brush. One instance 
is on record of a Company which existed in 18 14 volunteering 
to give surrender values : "If the insurer should at any 
time find it convenient to discontinue his annual payment, 
the directors will purchase his interest in the policy at a 
fair price, on behalf of the other members." 

But surrender values are now given by every Office. If 
a man cannot pay his premium, he can secure a return of 
a portion of his premiums ; if he does not want to surrender, 
he can have a paid-up policy for the value of his premiums ; 
if he wants a loan on his policy, he can have one ; if he 

75 



forgets to pay his premium when due, his policy is not 
forfeited, but kept in force for him out of the surrender 
value of his policy ; if he wants to protect his policy from 
the hands of his creditors, he can have a policy under the 
Married Women's Property Act ; if he wants to change his 
occupation, he can change it, without prejudicing his 
policy ; if he wants to go up in a balloon, he can go up, 
or down a coal mine ; if he wants to go abroad, he can go 
abroad without consulting anybody ; if he hangs himself, 
or if the public hangman saves him the trouble, the Com- 
pany will pay the claim in full. All these privileges are 
embodied in every up-to-date policy, and if they are not, 




This is how our fathers travelled in the early days of Railways. 

that is the policy-holder's own fault. Some Companies 
issue policies free from any condition, except the payment 
of the premium, and if he does not possess one of these 
policies, he has only himself to blame. In short, the 
improvements in the practice of life assurance are not less 
great than the improvements in railway travelling. 

" The quality of mercy is not strained " by any Company 
when a man wants to withdraw from his contract, yet to 
read his complaints of unfair treatment, it might be 
imagined they had robbed him. No man is ever satisfied 

7 6 



with the amount of his surrender value. What is meant 
by a surrender value ? It means " that part of the funds 
which the Society can afford to return to the policy-holder 
on the cancelment of his contract." Why does not the 
Office return the full amount of the premium paid, with 
interest thereon ? The answer is that it never agreed ta 
do so. If the Office returned all a man's premiums, where 
would it find the money to meet claims under policies on 
which only one premium had been paid ? The principle of 
life assurance is based on the law of average. A man insures 
his life, and shares the risk with others. Since he became 
a policy-holder in the Office, the Company has lost a certain 
number of cases through the death of members who have 
not paid the equivalent of what the Office has paid to their 
representatives ; hence it is necessary to take a propor- 
tionate share of what it has received from the policy-holder 
who wants to withdraw. 

People who want all their money back are unreasonable, 
as a simple illustration will show. Suppose an Insurance 
Office consisted of ioo members, each entering at the same 
age, say 30, and each insured for ^100, and paying a pre- 
mium of £2 1 os. The members would therefore contribute 
^250 in all. Now, if one died in the middle of the first 
year, the Office would have to pay £100 , which would 
reduce its funds to ^150. If they were invested at the 
beginning of the year at, say, 4 per cent., they would earn 
in interest during the year the following sums: — 

4 per cent, on ^250 for six months, £$, 
4 per cent, on ^150 for six months, ^3, 
or £8 in all. At the end of the year, therefore, the total 
funds would amount to ^158. From this sum would have 
to be deducted the cost of management, amounting to, 
say, £18 , leaving the net funds at the end of the year 
£140. Now, if the 99 remaining members surrender their 
policies, they would each receive a ninety-ninth part of 
^140, or about £1 8s. 3-^d. each. It is obvious, therefore, 
that the Office could not give a surrender value of £2 10s,. 
to each of its members under such circumstances. As a 

77 



matter of fact, no Office could be conducted safely unless 
it had more than ioo members, but that number has been 
taken in order to make the illustration as simple as possible, 
that a man who enjoys the protection of a policy of in- 
surance must pay for that protection by contributing to a 
common fund, and that it would be impossible, without 
robbing the other members, to return all his premiums 
whenever he demanded them. " My friends/ ' said Carlyle, 
il there's an immense fund of human stupidity circulating 
among us." We never feel the truth of the philosopher's 
remark more keenly than when we hear a policy-holder 
growling because a Company won't give him back all his 
premiums. 




The conditions relating to foreign travel have undergone 
considerable revision. Formerly, policies became void if 
their holders went beyond the limits of Europe, or died 
upon the seas, except death took place on a passage from 
Ireland in a Government boat. It is among the traditions 
of one Office that a policy became void if its holder travelled 
from Dover to Calais without leave and licence. The 
Channel passage was always a perilous one ; but it is now 
made under conditions of comparative comfort and safety. 
Illustrations of the fear of accident while travelling abroad 
might be given times without number. For instance, 
Arthur Young was invited to join some French friends in 
a Pyrenean tour. In spite of the vehement remonstrances 
and agonised entreaties of his relatives, he set out. " I 

73 



implore you to give up this mad scheme ; think of your 
wife and children," his brother had written, and much 
more in the same strain, working himself up into a veritable 
frenzy of panic. An expedition to Patagonia, or a journey 
round the world, could hardly have inspired this timid 
counsellor with livelier terrors. He certainly never ex- 
pected to see the foolhardy traveller again. Now-a-days, 
foreign travel is quite as safe as home travel, and many 
Offices issue world-wide policies, under which a man may 
travel anywhere from Dan to Beersheba, from Jerusalem 
to Jericho, from Carolina to Timbuctoo. 

Sir Walter Scott appreciated life assurance because it 
provided " ready cash " for his family. In his day, " ready 
cash " meant payment in six months ; now, all Com- 
panies pay within a month, some within a week, and some 
would pay within a day, if the Death Dues were abolished. 
The formalities connected with these dues stand in the way 
of immediate payment. All rich men want " ready cash,' 1 
and insure for very large sums. The income of the late 
Duke of Westminster is said to have been three sovereigns 
a minute, yet, though he owned so much property, he had 
very little that he could turn into ready money. " All 
severely entailed, its owner for the moment is powerless to 
touch an acre of it. This was one of the many reasons 
why the Duke sold Cliveden to Mr. Astor ; it was the one 
bit of property he could thus dispose of, and his younger 
children have had to get a good portion of their heritage 
out of the ^200,000 which came from the transaction into 
the Duke's pockets." 

Moreover, the Duke, like thousands of other noblemen, 
invested large sums of money in Life Assurance, so that his 
family might have abundance of ready money at call. A 
policy of Life Assurance provides money for immediate use 
on the death of the insured. His property may consist of 
dwelling-houses, warehouses, land, ships, stocks, loans, and 
yet when he dies there may be very little money to his 
credit, or within reach of the executors. Money is needed 
at once, and must be raised either by borrowing or selling. 

79 



Both processes may be costly and troublesome. The 
safest and most independent course for a business man is 
to take out a life assurance policy, and then all difficulties 
vanish. Even a good investor will sometimes lock up all 
his means, retaining only a small balance at his bankers. 
By the aid of Life Assurance a man of fortune may invest 
and lock up his property very closely, and yet leave an 
available fund for the immediate emergencies arising after 
his death. Unlike other claims, a Life Assurance claim is 
paid immediately, and without any deductions. A Life 
policy never shrinks. 




80 



XIII. 



The Cost of Life Assurance. 

Many a light hailed by too careless observers 
as a fixed star has proved to be only a short- 
lived lantern at the tail of a newspaper kite. — 
Lowell. 

MANY thousands of people contend that life assurance 
is too dear. The contention is not new. Whilst 
wandering through the quaint city of Edinburgh 
we recently picked up a literary treasure bearing the title 
of " Comparative Tables of the Rates of Life Assurance 
Demanded in Scotland," published in 1824. Opening it 
the very first words that caught our eye were these : — 

" Agents are frequently called on by their clients to point out 
the cheapest terms on which Life Assurance can be effected with a 
respectable Company." 

In the M good old times/' as in our own day, people 
appear to have been smitten with a craze for cheapness. 
There may be no harm in " getting a thing cheap," provided 
nobody is wronged or injured ; but cheapness is too often 
secured at the expense of toiling millions who are paid 
starvation wages. Fortunately, life assurance cannot be 
bought like frocks and frills, nor can it be had at a bargain 
counter. Whoever wants it must pay Table Rates. 
True, these rates vary, but the conditions of insurance vary 
also, and the profits ; therefore, it must not be assumed, 
as many ignorant men assume, that they are getting a bar- 
gain when they select a cheap rate. 

A suggestion has been made that if Insurance Companies 
reduced their premiums, many people who cannot afford 
to insure would be able to take out policies. If the Offices 
carried out this suggestion, their generosity would prove 
like that of Claude Duval, and the other gentlemen highway- 
men, who pitied the poor so much that they robbed the 
rich in order to secure means for relieving the needy.. It 
would be bad policy for an Insurance Company, as for an 
individual, to burn his house down in order to warm 

F 8l 



the hands even of the fatherless and the widow. In 
theory, the premiums ought to be exactly adjusted to the 
actual rate of mortality, but the theory cannot be carried 
out. There must be a margin for expenses and for safety. 
An illustration from an Irish car driver will help us to make 
this point clear. He was driving between Ross and Wex- 
ford, and, like all the men~of his class, he was very jovial, 
giving many proofs of his wit. This was one of his stories : 
11 The masther had two beautiful English horses, and 
he wanted a careful man to drive them ; he was a mighty 




li Drive it within three inches and a half." 



pleasant gintleman, and loved a joke. Well, there was as 
many as fifteen after the place, and the first that went up 
to him, 

" ' Now, my man,' says he, ' tell me,- says he, * how 
near the edge of a precipice you would undertake to drive 
my carriage ? ' 

82 



" So the boy considered, and he says, says he, ' Within 
a foot, plase yer honour, and no harm.' 

11 ' Very well,' says he, ' go down, and I'll give ye yer 
answer by-and-by.' 

" So the next came up, and said he'd be bound to carry 
'em within half a foot ; and the next said five inches ; and 
another, a dandified chap intirely, was so mighty nice, 
that he would drive it within ' three inches and a half, he'd 
go bail.' Well, at last my turn came, and when his honour 
axed me how nigh I would drive his carriage to a precipice, 
I said, says I, ' Plase yer honour, I'd keep as far off it as I 
could.' ' Very well, Mr. Byrne,' says he, ' you're my 
coachman,' says he. Och, the roar there was in the 
kitchen when I wint down and tould the joke ! "• 

All actuaries are like Pat ; that is, they keep as far from 
the financial precipice as possible. They are the custodians 
of millions of trust money, and a single false step on their 
part would plunge tens of thousands into poverty. One 
of them thus explains how premiums are calculated : — 

The calculation of a set of net premiums for assurance is a 
simple and mechanical process when once the table of 
mortality and rate of interest have been determined upon. 
It is when these premiums require to be loaded and adapted 
to office use that the Actuary's real trouble and responsi- 
bility commence. Amongst the points he must consider are: 

(i) The future of the money market ; 

(2) The probable classes who will enter the Society ; 

(3) The constitution of the Society ; 

(4) The mode in which it will divide its bonuses ; 

(5) The expense at which it will conduct its business ; and 

(6) The probable extent of its new business. 
Moreover, he must not lose sight of the rates of the Offices 

who will compete with his Society. From the bare enumera- 
tion of some of these considerations, you will see how 
impossible it is to satisfactorily forecast the future, and the 
need for safe margins. Every premium, therefore, includes 
an addition for expenses, and for providing against possible 
contingencies, such as loss in the rate of interest, or an 

83 



increase in the number of deaths. This addition is called 
" loading/' and varies from 15 to 25 per cent, on the pure 
or net premium ; but a portion of it is returned in the form 
of " bonus " to policy-holders who take out " with-profit " 
policies. 

Before the construction of mortality tables, Insurance 
Companies charged the same rate for old and young alike. 
Not until 1762 could assurances extending over the whole 
of life be effected by annual contributions varying, as we 
have them now, with the age at the date of assurance and 
remaining uniform thereafter during life. This is called 
the level-premium system, in contradistinction to the 
natural premium system. By natural premium is meant 
that which is deduced directly from the mortality table ; 
in other words, it is the price paid to cover the risk of 
death during the first year a policy is in force ; the second 
year the rate is increased, and it continues to increase 
each succeeding year. Thus, the natural premium — 
deduced from the Institute of Actuaries' mortality ex- 
perience, assuming interest at four per cent. — is 17s. 
at 35 ; & 3S. 5<i. at 45 ; £2 os. sd. at 55 ; £4 3s. 6d. at 
65 ; £9 9s. 3d. at 75 ; ^20 3s. 7d. at 85. These rates are 
required to provide for the insurance of £100 for one year. 
The obvious drawback to the natural premium system 
is that the burden of paying premiums grows heavier every 
year ; whereas, most men would rather bear the yoke 
in their youth. 

On the other hand, the level premium of all the bona fide 
life assurance companies is the same throughout the whole 
period of life. What a man begins to pay he continues 
to pay — a uniform rate. Experience proves this plan to be 
the more convenient and the more practical. " In the 
early years level premiums are too high, and in later years 
they are too low ; and we must, therefore, reserve from 
the fat years in order to provide for the lean years which 
are sure to follow. That is the foundation of the system 
of reserves. The valuation of a Company is simply a method 
by which actuaries find how much has been received 
as the difference between level and natural premiums.;'' 

84 



Returning to the question of cheapness, it must not be 
forgotten that an increase of privileges is a cheapening, 
just as much as a decrease in rates. Formerly, it was the 
custom to withhold payment of a claim for three months ; 
now, it is paid immediately As an illustration of the 
importance of the concession of paying claims on proof 
of death and title, one of the directors of an old Office 
stated, at the annual meeting of 1891, that immediate pay- 
ment involved an annual loss of ^1,200 to the Society. 
But the Society's loss is a distinct gain to the widows and 
orphans, and is, therefore, a public good. Apart from 
this, and other concessions, the Offices have sought to meet 
the requirements of all classes. If a man wants " cheap " 
insurance, he can get it from respectable, old-established 
Companies. For instance, one Office has a " prime cost " 
system whereby whole-life policies, with profits, are issued 
at 25 per cent, reduction on ordinary rates. This reduction 
is treated as a debt, bearing interest, to be liquidated out 
of subsequent bonuses. Other Companies have, by dis- 
counting bonuses, adopted the system of " minimum pre- 
miums." 

We do not recommend any of these plans, but they may 
suit Tom, Dick, and Harry. Such men remind us of 
untravelled Englishmen who, when they go to an hotel, 
creep into a corner to dine by themselves, partly because 
they think they can save money by ordering just what they 
fancy, instead of sitting down at table d'hote with their 
fellow-travellers. By joining the ordinary dinner-table the 
advantages of co-operation are secured — advantages which 
cannot be obtained by isolated individuals. 

What applies to dining applies also to insuring. It pays 
a man to throw in his lot with his fellows. He may 
imagine he will save money by selecting an apparently 
cheap article ; but, when the reckoning comes, he will 
find that he has paid dearly for his singularity. It isn't 
the first end that counts. It's the last end, when the policy 
matures. The start is nothing if an investment be the 
object of the insurance ; the finish is everything. Almost 
any horse can begin in a race. With a few trials, even 

85 



an old plug may get away from the wire all right, but it's 
the coming under the wire for the last time that counts ; 
it's being in the race to the finish that is alone valuable. 
Ben. Franklin boiled the truth down when he said : " Life 
insurance is the cheapest and safest mode of making a 
certain provision for one's family." 




86 



XIV. 



Better than a Bank. 




By the discovery of life assur- 
ance man is enabled to save in the 
most scientific manner, and to 
acquire at once a position which 
he could only otherwise reach by 
long years of studious saving. 

Lord Selborne. 

IF a man deposited £10 a year in a Bank, it would 
take a very long time to accumulate the amount 
which could be secured forthwith by payment of the 
ten pounds to a Life Assurance Society. For instance, an 
Annual Premium of ^10, commencing at age 25, secures the 
payment of about ^500, with profits, at death. The pro- 
vision, even if death occur when only one premium has 
been paid, is immediate ; while in the other case it is a 
paltry ten-pound note which his family will inherit, against 
^500 if an insurance had been effected. 

// the man lived, and if he continued to put by the same 
sum of ^10 yearly into the Bank, and if he could rely 
upon a rate of 2\ per cent, interest, his savings at age 60 

87 



would amount to £550 ; while the amount of the Life 
Assurance Policy at that age may amount to over ^700 in 
a good Office. But there is an element of uncertainty 
about the matter, as well as about life itself ; the real point 
of contrast between the Insurance Company and the Bank 
is the certainty which attaches to the one, and the un- 
certainty which marks the other. 

In fact, the Bank investor is, more truly speaking, a 
speculator, who stakes the welfare of his family on the 
chances of his own life, and his power to resist the tempta- 
tion to divert the investment — that is, to use it for some 
other purpose than that of family provision. // only he 
be spared, they may fare well enough ; but if death come 
before his plans are matured, their case is a sad one indeed. 
The policy-holder, on the other hand, is the conscientious 
investor ; for, having regard to a provision for his family, 
he seeks safety — the first condition of " investment," as 
opposed to " speculation " — before anything else. Thanks 
to the Insurance Companies, he finds that he can forthwith 
make this provision absolutely secure and certain, and also 
obtain profits on his outlay greatly superior to the utmost 
profits that would accrue if he " ran his own risk " under 
the most favourable circumstances. 

Life Assurance is unquestionably one of our greatest 
national interests. According to the Blue Book issued in 
1902, the funds of the various Offices reached the enormous 
total of ^266,608,306, the sums assured representing 
^871,139,569. As may be imagined, the investing of over 
two hundred millions and a half of money safely gives no 
small trouble to managers. But the fall in the rate of 
interest does not appear to have greatly affected Insurance 
Companies, who earn on an average nearly £4 per cent. 
This high rate is explained by the fact that Life Offices, 
owing to the magnitude of their funds and the nature of 
their business, command classes of remunerative invest- 
ments quite inaccessible to the small periodical savings of 
the individual policy-holder, who, nevertheless, by uniting 
his savings' with a multitude of others, finds himself able 

88 



to accumulate them at the full rate realised upon the whole 
funds of his Company. 

" Put not your trust in money, but put your money in 
trust," was the sage advice of Oliver Wendell Holmes. 
<( Where can I invest my money safely and remunera- 
tively ? " You may invest it in Railways, Banks, Mines, 
and in Building Societies, with more or less success; but 
there is only one institution in which you run no risk of 
losing your money. Where is that ? In a Life Assurance 
office. 

A Building Society may fail ; a Railway Company may 
have a spell of bad luck ; a Bank may have a run upon 
its funds ; and a mine may be worked out. But none of 
these things can happen to an Insurance Society. There 
cannot be a u run" upon an Insurance office. Why not ? 
Because all the claims cannot, in the course of nature, fall 
due in one year. Even the most fatal plague ever known, 
remarks an actuary, will hardly disturb the general average. 
<( We get a few more claims in a particular Company in a 
particular year, while in another year we get a few less. 
But these variations are so very small, compared with 
the total incomes and funds, that they may be thrown out 
of the calculation." The security of a well-managed office 
is well-known to commercial men, who invest large sums 
in Life Assurance. We know one Captain of Industry 
who is insured for £400,000 ; hundreds of big merchants 
hold policies for £50,000. In short, life assurance is the 
only investment absolutely free from risk. This is one 
reason why business men are so largely insured. We have 
on our table a book which contains the names of over 
4,000 persons whose lives are insured for £10,000 or more, 
and over 300 letters from persons iusured, verifying the 
amount of their insurance, and expressing opinions of its 
value from an economic point of view. 



89 



XV. 

Endowments for Children. 




Let the young take it to 
heart that when they are young 
saving is most easy and most 
profitable. 
— The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, M.P. 

IT has been urged that " sons, if well and properly- 
trained, may be left to fight their own battles," but we 
greatly doubt whether this dictum takes account of 
every difficulty which surrounds a young man who stands 
on the threshold of life, equipped with knowledge, but 
without capital. It is questionable to assume that, "asa 
rule, no good, but mischief, is likely to come of making 
provision for boys, independently of their own exertions." 
Whether the intended career be professional or business, 
some capital is absolutely necessary. 

Cobden, the hero of Free Trade, borrowed money to start 
himself in business ; thousands do the same in our days, 
and thus cripple themselves for years. That plan is a bad 
one for the men themselves, as well as for society. Here 
is a good one for the consideration of parents : Insure your 
son's life. Say he is two years of age, an annual premium 
of about ^3. 10s., or one payment of a little over /50, will 
secure the payment of £100 on his attaining the age of 
twenty-one years. No medical examination is required, 
and in the event of his death before reaching the specified 
age, the whole of the premiums are returned. 

90 



The endowment of a daughter can be effected on the 
same terms, thus securing money to start business, or a 
dot in case of her marriage. " You can do it now," remarked 
Sir Walter Besant, " while your child is so young. Later 
on, when schooling begins, it will be more difficult. I do 
not address this exhortation to those who marry on a 
hundred and fifty, but to young merchants, city men, 




The late Sir Walter Besant. 



professional men, journalists, literary men ; and, above all, 
to the mothers of the girls they are going to marry. In the 
middle class there are seldom any marriage settlements. 
Let there be henceforth always a marriage settlement, and 
let it contain one single clause as to the endowment of the 
daughter." 

9i 



Another method whereby a parent may profitably invest 
a little money for a son, with the prospect of the investment 
proving useful in his business life, is that of effecting an 
insurance for him during his childhood — the insurance only 
coming into force at 21, and being then, if required, a 
serviceable security for business purposes. " A policy 




The late Reuben Spencer. 

which has been in force for a fair number of years," said 
the late Reuben Spencer, of Messrs. Rylands and Sons, 
" is a good and useful form of security in furthering trade 
interests." This form of insurance requires no medical 
examination and involves no risk of loss, seeing the parent 

92 



would receive all premiums back if the youth did not 
survive to twenty-one, and would also be entitled to take 
a very liberal surrender value if the policy be surrendered 
at any time prior to the youth's twenty-first birthday. 
The great advantage here is the low premium for remainder 
of life with Life assurance in force, irrespective of health 
conditions after boyhood. 

There is yet another method by which a father may 
provide capital for his son, or a dot for his daughter. He 
may take out an Endowment on his own life. For instance, 
take a man of 35, who wishes to provide ^1,000 for his 
child of six, payable at 21, the best way of making such 
a provision is to take out a 15 years' Endowment policy. 
If the father die after making one payment, the ^1,000 is 
payable to the child at once ; if the father survive the 
Endowment period, he can hand over the money himself, 
or use it as he thinks fit. He may need it himself. 




93 



XVI. 



How to Retire from Business. 

The first years of a man's 
life must make provision for 
the last. 

— Dr. Samuel Johnson. 

RAILWAY travellers are not generally very communica- 
tive ; some want to sleep ; others to read ; others, 
again, to think. We have no fault to find with any of 
these types of our fellow-travellers, but we prefer com- 
mercial men. Much can be learned from them, for they 




understand the ways of the world. They are more interest- 
ing, more human, more agreeable. Recently, we travelled 
from Manchester to London in one of those handsome 
corridor carriages of the Great Central, which has done so 
much to make travelling easy. After dinner we discussed 
over cigars and coffee, the changes which have taken place 
in business life during the last twenty years. 

14 Life was sweeter twenty years ago/' we contended. 

94 



" That's true," replied a weather-beaten commercial. 
11 We could take things easier then ; there was less com- 
petition, and our work was lighter, and our pay heavier. 
Now, all is changed. The sons are pushing their fathers to 
the wall, and, if a man at my age gets out, it is almost 
impossible to get another house to take hirn on any terms." 

" But," we suggested, " you have had a good berth with 
your present firm." 

" That's true," he admitted, " but a traveller spends so 
much on the road that he is unable to save enough to retire 
on. 

" Did you know Brightmore, who covered the southern 
counties for Messrs. Rylands ? " 

" Of course, I did." 

" Well, he was one of our chums at school. He served 
his apprenticeship in a home- trade house, and when he 
was about twenty-five, Mr. John Rylands sent him on the 
road. The young fellow was very successful, earned a good 
salary, saved money out of his travelling allowance, and, 
unlike most young men, he invested his surplus cash." 

" How ? " 

" In life assurance chiefly ; at various times he took out 
Endowment policies, with profits. Some of these policies 
matured at 50, and he drew very handsome returns for his 
investment. He held on to his situation for a year or two, 
and then made up his mind to clear out, and make room 
for a younger man. Practically, he has retired from 
business." 

I wish I could do the same," said the commercial, 
1 for I am getting old, and cannot do the work I used to. 
We've got to cover more ground now-a-days, and railway 
travelling completely upsets me, in spite of bogey wheels 
and easy chairs. I have saved a little money, but fear to 
spend it." 

" How long," we asked, " have you been with your 
firm ? " 

" Twenty-seven years." 

11 Are you married ? " 

95 



" No." 

" Why didn't you invest some money in life assurance ? " 

" Why ? Because I looked upon insurance as a good 
thing for married men, and thought I should never need it 
myself. I now see where it would have benefited me." 

" That's a text from which we could preach an eloquent 
sermon ; but we are not going to preach. We may be 
allowed, however, to ask two questions : 

" Can single young men afford to go without insurance 
protection ? // they have no one to provide for, if they 
are isolated individuals, homeless wanderers on the face of 
the earth, is it not possible that a time might come when 
a cheque for £s°° or ^1,000 would prove a boon and a 
blessing to them ? Anyhow, the difficulty of securing and 
retaining a good appointment will increase year by year ; 
the young will continue to push their elders to the wall, 
and the fittest only will survive. 

" But a man should be prepared for the inevitable rainy 
day. However small his income, he should contrive to 
save something, and sacrifice small luxuries for the sake of 
securing an Endowment policy, payable to himself at 50, 
or 55, or 60. With profits, it would amount to a nice little 
sum to fallback upon when mVstrength failed, or mis- 
fortune overtook him." 







«*Hli-r.L : 


l^EjM^BMffig&JL-.. ' ' w * "^ 




H*- at 



96 



XVII. 

The Cash Value of a Man's Life. 



7Q YEDR 



What is a man 
If his chief good, and market of 

his time, 
Be but to sleep and feed ? — a 
beast, no more. 

— Hamlet, iv. 4. 

EVERY able-bodied man has a commercial value 
to his family, as well as to his employer. His life 
is capital that literally hangs on a thread, which 
may snap now, or 50 years hence. All men have not 
the same value ; some possess skill; which is worth more 
than muscle. Others are a great loss to the nation, as 
well as to their relatives, as in the case of invalids, cripples, 
or lunatics. The real value of a human life, considered 

G 97 



Age 


Value 

£ 


Age 


Value 

£ 


A; 


5 


56 . 


30 


241 .. 


55 


IO 


117 . 


35 


228 . . 


60 


i5 


192 


40 


212 


65 


20 


234 • 


45 


193 • • 


70 


25 


246 


50 


168 . . 


75 



purely from a moneyed standpoint, is such a sum as will 
at a fair rate of interest, produce what he can earn yearly 
or is likely to accomplish in the future. Dr Farr placed 
the following values on a farm workman : — 

Value 

£ 

138 
97 
46 

o 
25 loss. 

What is the legal value of a human life ? It varies with 
men's positions. Take the case of a mechanic. A widow 
11 obtained by consent " £300 from the Gas Light and Coke 
Company for the loss of her husband ; while the widow 
of a bricklayer was awarded £2 16 against a Railway Company. 
When we go higher up the social scale we find an equally 
puzzling assessment of the value of human life. Everybody 
remembers the Stella, which was wrecked near Guernsey, 
in the spring of 1899. Those in doubt how much to insure 
for may gain an idea from the awards made in the London 
Sheriff's Court in connection with that disaster. 

The widow of an india-rubber manufacturer claimed 
£3,000 for the loss of her husband, and was awarded 
£1,500 ; another, whose husband had been a stockbroker, 
was awarded £4,000 ; the widow of a builder £4,500 ; 
the widow of a tarpaulin-maker £3,050. These sums are, 
however, small in comparison with the alleged incomes of 
the husbands, one of whom was reported to be making 
£3,000 a year. If so, he could surely have spared £1,000 
a year for life assurance. This premium would, at age 30, 
have given family protection for £50,000. 

As a rule, married men place too low an estimate, not 
only upon the money value of their own lives, but upon 
the requirements of their families. If you ask the average 
man whether he has enough insurance upon his life, he 
promptly answers "Yes," meaning that he has enough to 
satisfy himself. But has he enough to provide a suitable 
income for his wife and children if he, the bread-winner 

98 fc 



{the houseband), be taken away ? That's the problem 
which every man must solve for himself. 

We don't suppose that you could find one man insured 
for a small amount who could give any definite idea what he 
expects his wife and children to do in case of his death. 
He has a vague idea that they will go and live with some of 
his friends, or that they will " get along somehow " ; 
but " getting along " is a sorry kind of existence. Moreover, 
most people find it hard work to bear their own burdens 
without carrying the burdens of others. But why trust 
to relatives, to friends, to anybody ? Why not bear your 
own burdens ? Why not put your wife and family in a 
position of comfort, if you happen to be taken away ? 
It is thoughtless for a man to shelve such an obvious duty 
as that of adequate life assurance. It is not so much a 
question of sentiment as of finance. If your wife and 
children need an income of, say, ^200 a year to enable 
them to live in decency and comfort, your life assurance 
protection should not be less than ^5,000, as that sum, 
invested at 4 per cent., would provide the necessary revenue. 

The standard is too high ! But it is better to aim at a 
high standard than a low one. The golden rule is to increase 
your life assurance along with your income. As that grows, 
in the majority of cases, the family requirements grow. 
When death comes, and only a small provision has been 
secured, the pinch of poverty is bound to be felt. Every 
year men are cut down in the prime of life, leaving their 
families in distress, and want, through having neglected 
to provide an adequate assurance. 



Gather ye rose-buds as ye may, 

Old time is still a-flying ; 
And this same flower that smiles to-day, 

To-morrow will be dying. — Hevrick. 



L.ofC. 99 



XVIII. 

Better than Consols. 

/ believe insurance to be 
one of the very best ways of 
saving that a man can select. 

— Sir William Harcourt. 

NEWSPAPER writers refer to "a problem for small 
investors/' and declare that their lot is not a happy 
one ! But they have the remedy in their own hands. 
They should exercise judgment in the selection of their 
investments. True, an individual has " no chance against 
the corporate capitalist ; " but if he would co-operate with 




Life Assurance is Better than Consols, my Boy.' 



other " small capitalists," he would reap the benefit of 
combination, and secure an investment much better than 
he could secure himself. By way of illustration, a healthy 
man of 22 can secure a profit-sharing policy in one Company 
for ^200 for an annual payment of £4 is. 6d. The Table 
which follows shows the value of the policy yearly as 
compared with the same amount of £4 is. 6d. invested 

100 



annually at 4 per cent, compound interest per annum. 
The bonus is assumed to be at the equal rate of £1 5s. per 
cent, per annum on the sum assured, added each year. 
From the accompanying figures it will be seen that, after 
a lapse of 30 years, the Assurance policy is still superior 
to a 4 per cent, compound interest investment, in addition 





£4 is. 6d. per 










annum, at 


Policy 


f 


Difference in 




4 per cent. 


^200 




favour 




compound 


with Bonus. 


of Policy. 




Interest. 










£ s. d. 


£ s. 


d. 


£ s. d. 


At end of 1 year . . 


4 4 9 


202 IO 





198 5 3 




, 2 years . . 


8 12 11 


205 O 





196 7 1 




3 , 




13 4 7 


207 IO 





194 5 5 




4 , 




17 19 11 


2IO O 





192 1 




5 , 




22 19 1 


212 IO 





189 IO II 




6 , 




28 2 3 


215 O 





186 17 9 




7 , 




33 9 5 


217 IO 





184 7 




8 , 




39 1 


220 O 





180 19 




9 , 




44 17 


222 IO 





177 13 




, 10 , 




50 17 8 


225 O 





174 2 4 




11 , 




57 3 1 


227 IO 





170 6 11 




, 12 , 




63 13 7 


23O O 





166 6 5 




13 , 




70 9 3 


232 IO 





162 9 




14 , 




77 10 5 


235 O 





157 9 7 




15 , 




84 17 2 


237 10 





152 12 10 




16 , 




92 9 10 


240 





147 10 2 




17 y 




100 8 7 


242 IO 





142 1 5 




18 , 




108 13 8 


245 





136 6 4 




19 , 




117 5 5 


247 IO 





13° 4 7 




, 20 , 




126 4 


250 





123 16 




, 21 , 




135 9 9 


252 IO 





117 3 




, 22 , 




145 2 10 


255 





109 17 2 




23 , 




155 3 9 


257 IO 





102 6 3 




24 , 




165 12 8 


260 





94 7 4 




25 , 




176 9 11 


262 IO 





86 1 




26 , 




187 15 10 


265 





77 4 2 




27 , 




199 10 10 


267 IO 





6j 19 2 




28 , 




211 15 3 


270 





58 4 9 




29 , 




224 9 5 


272 IO 





48 7 


30 , 




237 13 Q 


27s O 





37 6 3 



to the security afforded during the whole period, the difference 
in favour of the policy being shown for each year. 

As a matter of fact, it is impossible to invest £4 at 4 per 
cent. That can only be done by an Insurance Company, 
because it has large funds to invest, and more scope for 
investment than an individual depositor of small sums in 
a Savings Bank. The comparison will be useful, however, 
to the man who boasts that he can secure a better invest- 
ment than that given by an Insurance Company. 

A bonus of 25s. per cent, is, however, a comparatively 
small one ; but, small as it is, the result of an insurance 
investment is larger than an investment in Consols, which 
are about to be reduced from 2 J to 2\ per cent. Many 
Companies can furnish illustrations of policies which have 
returned over four-and-a-half per cent., and at the same 
time the investors enjoyed the protection of life assurance 
for long periods. Another method of securing a good, 
sound investment either for large or small sums, yielding 
a nett return of about 3 -J- per cent., is obtained by buying 
an annuity in a certain Company, and covering the purchase 
money with a Life policy. Thus, a man of 35, by paying 
a sum of ^100 down, can buy an annuity of ^5 14s. ; he 
can then take out a non-profit policy at a cost of £2 2s., 
leaving a nett income of ^3 12s. for each £100 invested, 
with a return of the capital at his death. This method 
provides a reliable investment free from anxiety, and one 
that is not affected by the fluctuations of the money 
market. 








XIX. 

How to Insure an Income. 

'Tis said that persons living on 
annuities 
Are longer lived than others — God 
knows why, 
Unless to plague the grantors, yet so 
true it is 
That some, I really think, do never 
die. 

— Byron. 

ONE of the secrets of health and of long life is entire 
freedom from worry. This freedom can be secured 
in most cases by an insured income. Sir Andrew 
Clarke told this story as an illustration of the effect upon 
the mind when relieved of pecuniary anxiety : A hospital 
chaplain was pronounced to be suffering from heart disease ; 
he was refused insurance on this ground, and it was inti- 
mated that his chance of life was under one year. The 
Board thereupon pensioned him off at a yearly sum during 
life, and he lived to enjoy his allowance for fifty years ; 

This record was beaten by a clerk in the East India House. 
Charles Lamb was his immediate senior, and John Stuart 
Mill his junior. Upon the plea of shattered health, he retired 
from the service on a pension of /400 a year — in 1835 ! 
Yet that shattered fellow drew his pension for 54 years. 

Annuitants, or pensioners, rarely die young ; in fact, 
Insurance Companies have hitherto fixed their prices 
for annuities on too low a basis. It has always been known 
that the selection exercised by the purchaser of an annuity 
is very strong against the Office. Persons in bad or 
doubtful health refrain from such a form of investment, 
and the proverbial longevity of the annuitant is the result. 

Still, however attractive an annuity may be to some 
people, it does not meet the needs of business and pro- 
fessional men, who object to sink a large sum of money 
in the purchase of a pension alone ; what they want, and 
what Insurance Companies are prepared to offer, is a life 

103 



assurance policy, combining protection for their family 
as well as an annuity for themselves, if they need it twenty 
years hence. This two-fold object is accomplished in a 
5 per cent, policy — a policy which is primarily intended 
for the benefit of a man's wife and family: 

As everybody knows, the payment of a lump sum of 







V-X-vVvn-W.^ 



money to a woman at the death of her husband places 
her in a dilemma as regards investing it profitably and 
securely. A widow with money is a target for unscrupulous 
men who put forth the bait of high interest in some specula- 
tive concern. In order to protect her from being swindled, 
the Insurance company retain possession of the sum covered 
by the policy, and pay her 5 per cent, upon the capital 

104 



amount for a number of years, or for life, according to the 
terms of the contract, the principal being paid at her 
death to her family, or heirs. This plan removes the 
trouble and risk of investing a lump sum, and enables a 
widow to live a life free from care and worry. 

Moreover, the policy may be a : le one. A man's 

circumstances may change, his family may die, or the mem- 
bers of it may no longer need insurance protection — 
he may need it himself. In that case his policy will enable 
him to secure a fixed income for life, without any trouble 
or risk. In fact, a 5 per cent, investment policy is better 
than an annuity, inasmuch as the holder secures, not only 
a guaranteed pension, but also payment of the sum insured 
at his death to his heirs. 

11 Never hurry, never worry, 

Never fret, nor fume." 

wrote John Stuart Blackie. " Worn,' kills as surely, 
though not so quickly," contends Dr. George W. Jacoby, 
" as ever gun or dagger did, and more people have died in 
the last century from sheer worn," than have been killed in 
battle." 

One way of securing freedom from worry, and of attaining 
a great age, is through the medium of Life Assurance. 
" I wonder greatly," wrote Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton, 
M.D., F.R.S., to the editor of Business, " that everyone 
with a family dependent on him does not insure his life. 
I have insured my own for such a sum that, were I to die 
to-morrow, I should leave my family fairly provided for. 
I don't think that I could bear the idea that my death 
would leave my family dependent on charity ; and, at any 
rate, the knowledge that I have made provision for them 
is a comfort to me whenever I think of the risk that every 
medical man must needs run, and of the untimely fate of 
some of my intimate friends. Moreover, I know from 
experience that worry interferes greatly with my work ; and 
I feel sure that the freedom from worn" regarding the 
pecuniary affairs of my family, in case of my death, enables 
me to do more, and better work, than I could have done 
if I had not insured mv life." 



XX. 

Profit-Sharing Policies. 

The social question fills the air, and 
profit-sharing is the only anti-revolu- 
tionary element in it." 

— George Jacob Holyoake. 

PROFIT-SHARING has become the rule in many large 
manufacturing concerns, not only abroad, but at 
home. One manufacturer, for instance, has dis- 
tributed over ^30,000 to his employees since the adoption 
of the system, some 17 years ago. At a recent distribution 
of profits, not fewer than 690 persons participated in the 
surplus. At the meeting where over ^3,000 of " unearned 
increment " was apportioned, it was predicted that the 
principle of profit-sharing would be widely extended. 

The subject was discussed at a meeting of the London 
Chamber of Commerce. One of the speakers, Mr. Henry 
Vivian, said that there were more than 160 businesses of 
various kinds conducted on the labour co-partnership 
principle, with a capital of more than ^1,000,000, while the 
aggregate amount of trade done has grown from ^160,000 
in 1883 to over ^2,000,000 last year, and was steadily 
increasing. In all these businesses the workers were 
admitted to a partnership in profits, and he believed that 
it was on some such lines as these that a solution of the 
difficulties constantly arising between workmen and 
employers would ultimately be found. 

So far as Life Assurance is concerned, the principle has 
been in force for a century or more. Every Company issues 
several kinds of policies to suit the varied needs of men. 
But, while other policies have their special features, the 
whole-life is the most desirable, because it is pure insurance 
— exclusive protection. This may be bought for a lump 
sum, or by means of half-yearly or yearly payments for 
life, or by a series of payments extending over 10, 20, or 
more years, according to the circumstances, or wishes of the 
policy-holder. Some men consider it a burden to pay 

106 



premiums for life. In that case they have the option of 
paying a limited number of premiums. 

A whole-life policy may be had with or without profits. 
The difference between the two systems is that in the first 
case the policy-holder shares with others the surplus 
revealed by stock-taking. Every Company makes a 




Teache* : Suppose there are twelve apples to be 
divided equally between you and your sister — how 
many will each of you have ? 

Tommy : It depends on who divides 'em. 



periodical valuation of its assets and liabilities, and a 
certain portion of the surplus is divided among the policy- 
holders. For this kind of policy the holder pays a trifle 
extra, but in a good Office he is rewarded by a very hand- 
some bonus, the amount being added to his policy. The 

107 



same principle applies to Endowment policies payable in a 
given number of years, according to the policy-holder's 
desires expressed at the time of insuring. On the other 
hand, if a man needs the very largest insurance protection 
from the start for the lowest premium, he must take out a 
non-profit policy. Tom Hood said he was once asked to 
contribute to a new journal, not exactly gratuitously, but at 
a small advance upon nothing. He accepted the terms 
conditionally, that is to say, provided the principle could be 
carried out. Accordingly, he wrote to his butcher, baker, 
and other tradesmen, informing them that it was necessary 
for the sake of cheap literature and the interest of the 
reading public, that they should in future furnish him with 
their several commodities at a trifle above cost price. It 
will be sufficient to quote the answer of the butcher : — 

Sir, — Respecting your note, cheap literater be blowed ! 
Butchers must live as other pepel, and if so be you or the 
readin' public wants to have meat at prime cost you must 
buy your own beastesses and kill yourselves. 

I remain, yours truly, 

Joseph Swipes, Family Butcher. 

Some people want insurance at cost price, and, like the 
British Workman, they clamour for a share of the profits 
without contributing anything towards the expenses. The 
nearest approach to this ideal stage is the discounted 
bonus plan. It is better, however, to insure " with 
profits," because such a policy is more remunerative as an 
investment. 




ic8 



XXI. 



Various Forms of Life Assurance. 

After some experience, at my present 
age, I have come to the conclusion that, 
were I a rich man, there are oyily two 
things in which I would invest my wealth 
at prevailing prices : land (including 
farming on a large scale) and the various 
forms of Life Assurance. 

— Rider Haggard. 

THE specialities of Life Assurance are found in the 
application of the science to the varied wants and 
conditions of all classes. Pure and simple Life 
Assurance is the foundation upon which every speciality 
is constructed. These specialities are more numerous than 
the Companies, and a volume would be required to review 
them. In fact, new schemes are so numerous that one 
editor suggests that we shall soon require a Buffon to write 
the natural history of Life Assurance, and a Darwin 
to trace its evolution and development. Meanwhile, 
we will try to describe some of the 
modern developments of Life Assur- 
ance. 

Investment Insurance takes many 
forms. The substantial advan- 
tages of Life Assurance as a 
profitable investment, as well as 
a family provision, 
have never been 
more effectively 
secured than by 
a five per cent, 
debenture policy. 
This policy not 
only guarantees 
an annual income 
of five per cent, 
per annum to the 
person whom the 




109 



debenture holder desires to benefit for 20 years after his 
death, but also payment in full of the principal at the 
expiration of that period. On the other hand, if the de- 
benture holder is living at the end of 10, 15, or 20 years 
(according to age at entry) the debenture and profits may 
be surrendered for cash or otherwise dealt with, according 
to the terms of the contract. 

Money is hard to get and heavy to hold. It burns the 
fingers of most men, who jump, like silly fish, at the se- 
ductive bait dangled before them by the wily Company 
promoter, and swallow his gilded hook. During the year 
1 90 1 not fewer than 2,712 Companies were extinguished, 
involving a total loss of ^63,388,410 to idiotic speculators. 
We use the word idiotic advisedly ; for there are plenty 
of safe channels of investment for those who have eyes 
to see. Here, for instance, is an investment of ^3 per 
cent. Consols with bonuses. The payment of ^1,000 will 
secure absolutely (1) an annuity of ^30 for life ; (2) an in- 
surance of ^1,000 ; and (3) additions to the annuity by way 
of bonuses. This investment is intended to remain undis- 
turbed during the life of the investor, the annuity and 
insurance being for the whole of life ; but, if necessity 
forces him to realise his capital, the Society undertakes 
to return not less than 95 per cent, of the purchase money. 

As a rule, it is the woman who 
is the target for the Company pro- 
moter and the financial thief ; but 
here is an investment in which 
neither of these rascals has a hand; 
an investment absolutely certain. 
Assuming her age to be 30, the pay- 
ment of ^20 a year will secure her 
an annuity of £$y 15s. commencing 
at age 50. Or, if she prefers a lump 
sum of money, instead of a safe 
annuity forjlife, she can receive ^586. And if she thinks 
fit to continue her premium and enter upon a larger annuity 
or receive a larger cash payment she has the option of 
doing so. 

no 




No man knows his fate from year to year. One year 
he may be earning £500 or £1,000 ; another year he may be 
walking the streets ! He might be unable to continue his 
insurance premiums. What then ? All depends upon the 
conditions of his policy. As a rule, a policy cannot lapse 
so long as the surrender value holds out. One Company 
prints a table of surrender values, so that the policy-holder 




He Slept in a Tree. 



can learn in a second how his Company will treat him. 
Here is another special scheme in which a man's premium 
is reduced during a period of sickness. Many a man, whose 
life is well insured, has been compelled, owing to reduced 
income during a protracted illness, to sacrifice a portion 
of his Life Assurances. Under the new scheme he sacrifices 
nothing. 

in 



Moreover, if a policy-holder, who had insured under this 
plan, became permanently disabled, he would be relieved 
from paying premiums for the remainder of his life ; 
and if he had the misfortune to lose his hands, or his feet, 
or his sight, the Society would pay him one-half the sum 
insured ; the other half would be paid at his death. Thus, 
his family would be protected, as well as his own weakness 
strengthened. In short, such a policy is a threefold safe- 
guard against the enemy, as w T ell as against the unexpected, 
inasmuch as it combines Life, Sickness, and Accident in one 
policy. 

A Paris policeman on duty in the Champs Elysees was 
surprised to see a man climb up the trunk of one of the 
large chestnut trees and disappear among the branches. 
That man lodged in a tree because he had no money to 
pay for a bed. This is a common experience of poor 
Bohemians in Paris in the summer months j but, unfortu- 
nately, the police object to the practice. You may dine 
in a tree at Robinson's, but you are not legally allowed 
to sleep in it. After all, a bed is safer and more comfortable 
if you have a house to put it in. The drawback to living 
in a house is that the man who owns it wants payment 
for the use of it, and has the first claim on a tenant's furni- 
ture if the said tenant does not pay for the hire of the house. 

One way out of the difficulty is for the man to buy his 
own house and cease to be a slave to a greedy landlord. 
How can this be done ? In combination with Life Assu- 
rance. You takeout a policy, say, for ^500, and the Company 
will lend you three-fourths or more of the sum insured 
on the security of your house. You pay a reasonable rate 
of interest for the use of the money, and continue your 
Life Assurance premiums. And if you die at any time, 
even after paying only one premium, the Company hand 
over the deeds of the house to your wife free from further 
payments. If you live, your burden of paying interest and 
premiums will be over in, say, 20 years and you will live 
under " your own vine and fig tree." What more do you 
want ? 

112 



XXII. 

Before the Wedding Ring. 




M 



Let mutual joy our mutual trust combine, 
And love and love-bom confidence be thine. 

— Dryden. 

[AN is, and always was, a blockhead and dullard," 
declared Carlyle, " much readier to feel and digest 
than to think and consider. " No man knows the 
truth of this declaration better than an Insurance Agent. 
It is always difficult to get a man to think about anything 
which concerns his duty as a citizen ; it is still more difficult 
to get him to think about anything which concerns the 
future welfare of himself and family. In fact, the average 
man is a mere animal ; he eats, drinks, and sleeps with 
the regularity of clockwork, and doesn't care for anybody 
h 113 



or anything. His life is entirely selfish. If you write him 
a letter suggesting an Endowment Assurance, he hasn't 
even the common courtesy to reply to it ; if you speak to 
him, he is always ready with the cock-and-bull story, " I 
can't afford it " ; if you see him in the street he tries to 
give you the slip ; if you buttonhole him in his office, he 
giggles at you, and talks as though Insurance Companies 
were a gang of rogues and thieves. In fact, it is hopeless 
to try to educate that type of man. A blockhead and a 
dullard he is, and a blockhead and a dullard he will remain. 

Turn we to a higher type of man, represented in the 
photograph at the head of this article. His face reveals 
his character at once. Open, manly, straightforward, 
self-reliant, it is a pleasure to grasp his hand. No humbug 
about this young man. When asked to take out an in- 
surance policy, he didn't plead poverty, or tell the Agent 
to " come again another day " ; but he filled up a proposa 
form at once. He recognised the force of George Dawson's 
contention that the Life policy should come before the 
wedding ring. "If I had the power," said George, "I would 
not suffer a young man to marry unless his life was insured." 
This may seem a harsh proceeding to most young folks ; 
but for their own sake, as well for the sake of their parents 
and society, a Life Assurance policy should be the first 
thing in the mind of a young man. In fact, it ought to 
be compulsory by law. The wedding ring is a sign of 
marriage ; the life assurance policy is a proof of duty. 
Moreover, it is a proof of sound health. 

This question is one which concerns the father of the 
bride no less than the bride. " Any father,'' wrote Charles 
Dickens in Household Words, " who permits his daughter to 
be married without insisting upon the husband insuring his 
life is doing a wrong which may cost her a life- time of 
sorrow and trouble." The same truth was emphasised by 
the greatest Oriental scholar the world has ever known — 
the late Max Miiller, who wrote, "It is difficult to prove 
what is self-evident, namely, that every man who has not 
a sufficient capital of his own ought to insure his life before 

114 



he marries." In Norway, a law provides that when a 
woman desires to marry, she must present a certificate 
showing that she is skilled in cooking, sewing, and knitting. 
In England, such a law would be considered a gross inter- 
ference with the liberty of the subject ; but every woman 
who thinks of marriage should at least know how to cook 
a joint and to darn a pair of stockings ; but, like all laws 
made by men alone, this is very one-sided. Why shouldn't 
a young man who thinks of marrying be obliged to prove 
that he is able to support a wife and maintain a comfortable 
home for her ? And why should he not only be able to 
prove his ability to support her while he lives, but also 
give evidence of husbandly qualities by insuring his life for 
her support should he die ? Perhaps some day we shall 
see a notice like this in the local papers : 

"MR. JONES PAID HIS PREMIUM ON HIS 
£2,000 LIFE POLICY, AND MISS ROBINSON 
CONSENTED TO BE MARRIED. THE BRIDE 
CARRIED A BUNCH OF FORGET-ME-NOTS 
AND A 20 YEAR ENDOWMENT POLICY." 

Moreover, Mr. Jones should carry an Accident policy, 
because he is liable to be blinded by 




115 



XXIII. 

The Knight Errant. 




The man that lays his hand upon a woman 
Save in the way of kindness is a wretch 
Whom 'twere gross flattery to name a coward. 

— Tobin, Honeymoon, Act ii, sc. i. 

SIR John Millais has pictured a damsel attacked 
by robbers, left naked, and bound to a tree. She 
is rescued by a Knight Errant — a member of that 
Order which was instituted for the protection of widows 
and orphans, and the succour of maidens in distress. It is 
an old-world picture, and the Knights Errant are as dead as 
the dodo. Nowadays, the Insurance Agent is the real 
Knight Errant. He is the humble instrument through 
whom the widow and the orphan are succoured from 
distress. It is he who is the means of keeping the wolf from 
the door of the widow, and of preventing maidens from fall- 
ing into the hands of robbers. "I am one of those who 
believe," writes Rider Haggard, " that amid all the 
nostrums and all the doctrines which are continually put 
forward for the salvation of everybody and the regeneration 
of everything, the one nostrum and the one doctrine 

116 



which, in days to come, will ultimately prevail and work 
a cure for many a human ill, is the great principle of 
insurance." 

We live in a cruel age ; perhaps the most cruel and the 
most brutal which ever existed. True, we are more refined 
in our methods of torture than our forefathers. Theirs 
were short and sharp ; ours are long but equally cruel. 
Chivalry is not dead, but precious few examples of it 
are witnessed in daily life. Men are like jackals in daily 
business life. " Women are hens who make themselves 
vultures," declared Carmen Sylva. A few years ago 
certain feminine reformers who make a profession of religion 
tried to rob the pit-brow women of their living ; now they 
are trying to turn barmaids into the streets, because serving 
drink is unwomanly ! 

In Glasgow, for instance, a city which prides itself on its 
sweetness and light, its purity and its good government, 
a city which plunges all the women it can grab into prison, 
the magistrates have already swept into the gutter a number 
of barmaids. But in the South more humanity seems to 
prevail. At Southampton, for instance, the feminine 
reformers, the " female vultures," have been routed \ for a 
proposal brought before the " Justices " was defeated by 
six votes against three. The local reporter has failed 
to publish the names of these black-hearted J.P.'s \ but 
we should like to put this question to them : Where does 
chivalry come in ? These men would doubtless think it 
cruel to crush the life out of a worm, but when it comes 
to a woman they have no hesitation in crushing the life 
out of her. Evidently, they need some Knights Errant at 
Southampton. 

England will never again be Merry England until the 
public arouses itself from its lethargy. The wily crank 
never sleeps. All the infamous laws which disgrace the 
Statute Book to-day were smuggled through the House of 
Commons when all honest men were asleep, and the news- 
papers allow atrocities to be committed in police courts 
every day in the week without the slightest protest. With- 

117 



out doubt, the crank rules England ; but his ever-increasing 
intolerance and his overbearing insolence strengthen our 
plea for Life Assurance. Here is a suggestion for parents : 
Let every father provide for his own daughters by means 
of an Endowment payable at 21. There are tens of 
thousands of men who can do this if they will only deny 
themselves, live in smaller houses, and cease to imitate the 
manners of the great. Let every honest man return to a 
simple life, give up his dinner parties, his wine and card 
parties, and then he will have enough money to prevent 
his daughters from becoming barmaids and domestic 
drudges. The problem of saving could be easily solved by 




Emile Zola. 



a man's wife. But Mrs. Grundy blocks the path of reform. 
What will Mrs. Grundy say if we give up our big house 
and go into a smaller one ? Dam Mrs. Grundy ! The 
prisons, workhouses, and orphan asylums are full of her 
victims. The attitude of the modern woman to Life 
Assurance has never been depicted with more accuracy 
than by M. Zola :— 

" Why did you ever have daughters, sir ? But as you have 
them, you must see that they are to be placed in life. You do not 
intend, I presume, to quarrel with their education. Any other 
man than yourself would glory in the medals received by Hortense 

118 



and in the talents of Bertha who, this very evening, charmed 
everyone with her waltz, the Bords de VOise, whose water-colour 
will delight our guests to-morrow evening. But you, sir, have 
none of the feelings of a father. You would willingly have sent 
your children to keep cows in the country, instead of sending them 
to a boarding school, as I insisted on doing." " Did I not insure 
my life, and when the fourth premium was due, did you not insist 
on using the money to re-cover the furniture in the drawing 
room ? And then did you not negotiate the sale of the policy ? " 
" Of course I did, because you allowed us to starve while you 
hoarded up the half-yearly premium. Yes, you may sit still 
and eat the ends of your fingers. You will have the pleasure of 
seeing your daughters two old maids." " I eat the ends of 
my fingers ! Zounds ! Madame, can't you see that it is you, 
with your confounded soirees, and your ridiculous toilettes, 
who have put all the husbands to flight ? " 

Put the husbands to flight ! Whatever the cause, 
few men marry nowadays, and the slump in the marriage 
market drives women into all sorts of occupation, with pay 
scarcely large enough to keep body and soul together. 
The horrors of the sweating dens in our big cities have been 
exposed again and again, but nothing has been done by 
anybody to secure women a living wage. A few weeks 
ago the London papers teemed with letters about the 
starvation wages paid to girls employed in 
the London A. B.C. shops. It appears that 
the shares are largely held by clergymen, 
and other pious people, who sweat the girls in 
order to pay a 41^- percent, dividend. Pro- 
tests have been made at every annual 
meeting of that Company, but the voices of 
the few have been drowned by the many, 
who do not care for anybody's body and 
soul so long as a fat dividend is declared 
year after year. Some day, a reckoning will come. Mean- 
while, every honest father, who does not wish his daughters 
to be turned into the street, must make provision for them 
by means of Life Assurance. 

" Do we realise what such a scourge means ? " asked 
Sir Walter Besant. " The breadwinner," he points out, 
11 who has succeeded so far as to think himself justified in 
marrying, and has a wife and five or six children, lies down 

119 




and dies ; he leaves an insurance which brings in a pittance 
of, say, ;£8o a year. Down goes that family. Where do 
they go? Nobody knows. The boys who should have been 
professional men, scientific men, scholars, divines, members 
of the great leading and trading class, have to become 
clerks ; or they go abroad, and disappear somewhere in 
Greater Britain. There is the end of that family ; at 
least for the third or fourth generation." That's a picture 
of a professional man's family. 

Here is another picture, the work of a Spanish artist, 
and it gives a pleasanter, but none the less powerful 
presentation of the necessity of working men having 
insurance. It is entitled " Labour's Reward," and re- 
presents a blacksmith seated on his anvil, leaning forward 
in the act of kissing his little girl, who has come to the shop 
to see " papa." How powerful and touching the con- 
ception of the artist ! The strong man and the trusting 
child are bound together by love. The father stopping 
work for the moment to greet her, the securing of whose 
happiness makes work a pleasure, is one of the most beauti- 
ful thoughts that has found expression in the exhibits of the 
Art Gallery. How shall this love be manifested when the 
hammer is dropped, and the leather apron hung up ? 
The reply is : Through the medium of Life Assurance. 




XXIV. 

Not Yet. 




Be wise to-day, 'tis madness to defer, 
Next day the fatal precedent will plead, 
Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out of life. 

— Young. 

WHEN the Paris mob surrounded the Tuilleries, the 
National Guard stood in defence of the palace, and 
the commander said to King Louis Philippe : 

" Shall I fire now ? Shall I order the troops to fire ? 
With one volley we can clear the place." 

" No/' said Louis, " not yet." 

A few minutes passed, and then Louis Philippe, seeing 
the case was hopeless, said to the General : 

11 Now is the time to fire." 

" No," said the General, " it is too late now. Don't you 
see that the soldiers are exchanging arms with the citizens ? 
It is too late." Down went the throne of Louis Philippe. 

The most striking illustration of the danger of delay is 
the story of the Dale Dyke catastrophe in 1864. A gigantic 
embankment, 95 feet high, held back a great artificial lake 
pent up for Sheffield's water supply. Suddenly, a crack 
appeared in the embankment. The men in charge, when 
they were warned that the masonry might yield, and the 



valley below be flooded, could not realise there was any 
danger. The crack grew larger ; the superintendent was 
again urged to open the sluices and let the water escape 
gradually. 

11 If the crack grows any larger than it is now, I will do 
it," he said, " but not yet." 

In a few moments the wall yielded, and a great mountain 
of water moved swiftly down the valley, carrying death 
and destruction. 238 people were killed, solid houses and 
farm buildings were swept away as if they had been match- 
wood. The superintendent had waited too long. He had 
not realised that a lost moment can never be regained. 

In other spheres of life prompt action makes all the 
difference between Life and Death, or between Success and 
Failure. Almost every railway accident is caused by a 
moment's delay on the part of an engine-driver or a signal- 
man. Half the Banks and Business Houses that fail might 
be saved if the probable results of some course of action 
were more promptly perceived. 

Half the human wrecks of to-day could have been saved 
if the men had acted promptly yesterday ; but they post- 
poned their duty, neglected their opportunity. " Some 
other day," they pleaded, when invited to insure their lives. 

Time goes, we say — Oh, no ! 
It is time that stays — we go. 

The waverers, the put-it-offs, the shufflers waited too long. 

The world is full of men who realise too late how 

easy it is to wreck a career by a few thoughtless words. 

It takes but a second to say (< No/' to an insurance agent. 

but it often takes a LIFETIME to regret it. Any 

man who has money to pay for a loaf can get it at 

the bread shop when he wants it, but he can't buy life 

assurance when he wants it. Even a rich man cannot 

secure admittance into a Life Office unless he has good 

health. That is essential. Youth is generally the best 

time for securing admission. Insurance companies make 

a selection of candidates, and only those who are sound in 

mind and body can pass the sentinel at the gate. To-day 

122 



you may be physically sound ; the time may come when 
Life Assurance will be an absolute necessity, but impaired 
health may then prevent your obtaining it. Therefore, 
assure now, in an established Company of good repute. 
Incorporate yourself. Capitalize your skill and power. 
Corporations out-live individuals. Life assurance will 
grant you a charter if you are healthy. 



Kit 









Agent : " Too late for the fire policy ; will you 
take the life ? 

Farmer'. " Fll take anything." 



123 



XXV. 



Progress of Life Assurance. 

(1838-1901.) 




" Strengthen thy stakes, 
lengthen thy cords, for thou 
shalt break forth to the right 
hand and to the left." 

— Isaiah. 

THE story of the long and glorious Reign of Queen Victoria, 
and of the rise and progress of many reforms — political, 
social, educational, legal, and one hundred others, has 
been described by a thousand pens. There is a consensus of 
opinion that almost every convenience in every-day life is a 
product of that Reign. Reform has succeeded reform. But 
the advancement in education is the crowning glory of the 
Queen's Reign. Moreover, the Victorian era has been dis- 

124 



tinguished by its marvellous development of Life Assurance. 
While four Offices exist which were founded before the close 
of the 1 8th century, it was during the first four decades of 
the 19th century that the foundations were laid of 47 of the 
still existing Offices; 39 of these were founded before 1837, 
and 25 have been founded since that year. We refer to existing 
Offices only, their continued existence being the best proof of 
the soundness of their principles, and the wisdom of their 
management. 

The number of Ordinary Life Assurance Offices in existence 
in the United Kingdom in 1837 was 82, and their combined 
funds (exclusive of paid-up capital) amounted, it has been 
estimated, to £27,750,000, and their premium income to a 
little over £3,000,000. Now, the number is 85, but their 
funds (exclusive of paid-up capital) amount to over 
£241,000,000; annual premium income to £22,000,000; 
and income from interest to £9,000,000. The amount of the 
sums assured in 1837 has been estimated at £100,000,000; 
now, the sum assured is £616,91 1,783 under 1,848,698 policies. 
It was not until the passing of the Life Assurance Companies' 
Act, 1870, which came into force on 1st January, 1871, that 
accurate and uniform statistics of thebusiness could be obtained. 

New systems of Life Assurance have been largely developed 
during recent years to meet the needs and requirements of all 
ranks and conditions of men. One system, in particular, has 
largely grown during the past quarter of a century, yet was 
practically unknown in 1837. We refer to endowment in- 
surance, which provides not only against the contingency of 
premature death, but also for old age. In the earlier period 
(i.e., soon after 1870) there were about 30,500 endowment 
policies in force for a little over £7,500,000 ; now, there are 
838,286 such policies, assuring £148,587,000. Industrial — 
or Working Men's — insurance was unknown in 1837. Now, 
there are fourteen Industrial Offices, whose combined funds 
exceed £20,000,000, with an income exceeding £9,000,000, 
and existing assurances for £181,000,000. 

Would it were possible to find out, even approximately, the 
amount paid by Life Offices during the past 65 years to their 

125 



policy-holders or their representatives ! But some idea may 
be gained from the fact that one Office alone has paid in 60 

years no less than £22,500,000, and from 1882 to 1901 

a period of 19 years — British Offices have paid over 
£241,000,000 in claims. It is the contemplation of the pay- 
ment of these vast sums distributed among families all over 
the country, and paid just at the time when ready money is 




Viscount Goschen. 



most urgently needed, that we see life assurance at its best — 
performing its mission of mercy, mitigating loss and alleviating 
sorrow, giving heart and hope to the stricken widow and a 
chance to the helpless orphan. This noble work goes on 
day after day, week after week, year after year, without 
the slightest intermission, and without the slightest public 
notice. Life assurance payments, enormous as they are 

126 



are not quoted in the exchanges, nor reported in the news 
columns of the daily press. The stories, touching and 
pathetic, which life assurance agents might tell if they 
would — of estates saved from foreclosure, and of widows 
and orphans raised from a condition of want by the timely 
receipt of a death claim, or an endowment — would be a 
mine of wealth to a novelist or a playwright. 

" I should like to see the existing number of Life policies 
largely extended/' remarks Viscount J. G. Goschen. So 
should we ; so would Insurance Companies ; so would 
every honest man and every honest woman ; so would the 
over-burdened taxpayer, who has to pay the piper, because 
an army of paupers danced in the heyday of their youth, 
and drank, and squandered their money, instead of laying 
if up for the inevitable rainy day which comes to most 
men. The thrifty householder, also, would be glad to see 
the number of Life policies largely increased ; for he has 
not only to bear his own burdens, but the burdens of his 
relatives and neighbours, who lived up to their income 
when the bread-winner was alive, and then sponged upon 
their friends when he was removed by death — absconded, 
as Dr. Talmage said. " We are living in days," wrote the 
Rev. Brooke Lambert, Vicar of Greenwich, " when an 
appeal is constantly made to charity for help because a 
man has left his wife and family totally unprovided for at 
his death. We are asked to subscribe to a fund to get his 
wife a pension, or to put his children in an orphan school. 
This plea dates back to the time when many charities 
were founded — and, in the absence of Life Assurance, 
rightly founded — to help the widow and the orphan left 
without provision. It was valid then ; it is not valid now. 
A man who makes no provision is more than careless ; he 
is semi-criminal." 



127 



XXVI. 




w 



You can confer no greater benefit 
upon your smaller paid brethren than to 
teach them to insure, so that they may 
learn the great fact that the pence that 
would otherwise rust in their pockets, 
become a potential and capitalised asset 
when placed in the hands of a sound 
Industrial Company.' 1 

— R. P. Hardy, F.I. A. 

TAS Lizzie insured ? " asked a lady visitor of 
a poor woman whose daughter had died from 
consumption. 
" No, she was in a Club/' was the reply. 
The working classes prefer the more trite expression 
11 Club-money " to the high-sounding word " Insurance " ; 
and the phrase is familiarly used in the music-hall lyric : 
11 We drew his club-money this morning " — a topical 
ditty relating to a series of catastrophes which should 
prove a powerful " moral " for every Insurance Company 
The chorus runs somewhat in this strain : — 

We drew his club-money this morning ; 
To the sexton we gave warning ; 
No more he'll beat the drum, 
For he's gone to kingdom come, 
And we drew his club-money this morning. 
Lizzie died at the age of twenty-five, and her parents 

128 



received £8 to " bury her decent," and buy her a 
"beautiful coffin " The girl had been insured from birth 
under a payment of one penny a week. This was not quite 
so expensive a funeral as that of a Leeds pauper, whose life 
was insured for ^10. This is how the relatives spent the 
money : Polished pitch pine coffin, £$ ; five coaches and 
hearse, £2 8s. ; one cab, 4s. ; paid at cemetery, £1 is.. 




A Manchester "Clubman." 

shroud, 5s. ; paid to coachmen, 6s. ; three dozen cards, 
5s. ; three pounds of biscuits, 5s. ; four bottles of wine, 
6s. ; total, ^10. As a rule, however, club-money is, 
in the case of grown-up people, spent wisely ; too often it is 
the only money a widow has to face the world with ; 
and in the case of a child it rarely covers the cost of the 
funeral. From a national point of view, the progress of 
J 129 



Industrial Assurance is matter for rejoicing. The poor 
man's insurance not only benefits the individual, but the 
State ; for it does more to protect the State against the 
evils of pauperism than any measure of relief devised by 
legislation or organised charity, preserving at the same time 
the spirit of self-respect in the family. 

As an illustration of the power of the pence, it may 
be noted that since 1882 the working classes have paid 
over ;£ 1 00,000,000 for Life Assurance, apart from the 
amount collected by Friendly Societies and Local Burial 
Societies. The business of Industrial Assurance is in the 
hands "of '9 Companies, who collected last year no less 




A Nottinghamshire "Clubman." 



than £9,179,324. in small sums. Some idea of the re- 
markable development of Working-class Insurance may 
be gathered from the fact that the number of policies in 
force has increased from 9,145,844 in 1888, to 20,915,110 in 
1902. The J sums insured amount to the gigantic total 
of ^204,610,543"; but, formidable as the amount seems, 
it works out at less than ^10 as the average amount 
of each policy. 

The collecting of these small sums gives employment 
to an army of Agents, who are " characterised, as a whole, 
±>y~ their remarkable intelligence, industry, and integrity. 

130 



They carry the Gospel of Insurance to every doorstep 
throughout the length and breadth of the land ; they work 
longer hours, and for less pay, than most of those upon whom 
they call ! " Yet no class of men are more roundly abused 
by ignorant public men, and by County Court Judges. 
Judge Parry, for instance, recently preached a little sermon 
in Court, and denounced them as " thoroughly untrust- 




A London " Clubman/ 1 






worthy ! - l That some Agents abuse their trust is frankly 
admitted ; but to assume that they are all utterly un- 
trustworthy is a conclusion not drawn from facts. In short, 
it is a foul libel upon the greatest home missionaries, the 
most useful, the most disinterested men in the United 
Kingdom. We might as well assume that all members 

131 



of Judge Parry's profession are all untrustworthy from the 
fact that not a day passes without one of his professional 
brethren being sent to prison for betraying his trust, 
and robbing widows and orphans. The fact is that no man 
can secure an Agency in the leading Companies unless 
he has a good character and can deposit a cash security 
of from £30 to /50. 




A Birmingham "Clubman." 



" The working man pays too much for his insurance," 
contends a millionaire. Well, let him devote his wealth 
to the founding of a Company which will cheapen Industrial 
Insurance. Let him act as well as talk. The field is wide 
open to any philanthropist who will engineer the whole 
movement himself, appoint his own Agents, make his own 
rates, and pay claims as they arise. He will find the 
task of cheapening Industrial Insurance a little harder 
than he imagines. Concerning the cost, Mr. W. M. Moni- 

132 



aws, the leading insurance statistician, explains that, 
stated broadly, Industrial Offices, in connection with any 
given volume of assurances, render fifty times the service 
which Ordinary Offices do. The equivalent of every 
account opened with the latter in connection with a policy 
for, say ^500, is fifty accounts opened with the former 
for as many policies, averaging less than £10 each ; for 
every collection of premium made by Ordinary Companies, 
Industrial Offices make fifty, and so on ; this proportion 
holding throughout nearly the whole of the ramifications 
of the two systems at Head Offices, Branches, and Agencies 
— in settling claims and in making investigations. Yet 




Ax Altrincham "Clubman." 



the ratio of total cost of administration in Industrial 
Offices is only three times what it is in Ordinary Companies 
— 44 per cent, of the premiums, as compared with about 
14 per cent. Obviously, working men pay dearly for the 
privilege of paying their premiums weekly ; for the same 
amount of premium which, when collected in weekly 
instalments, purchases only £100 of insurance, would 
secure, on an average, about £125, if collected quarterly ; 
£130 if collected half-yearly, or £13$ if collected yearly. 
These facts are not generally known. Even if they were, 
working men could not conveniently pay their premiums 

133 



in a lump sum. As a matter of fact, they are quite satisfied 
with the present system ; indeed, no other plan is feasible. 
Moreover, the friendly relationship existing between club- 
man and policy-holder has no parallel in any other business ; 
for an Industrial Agent is often the guide, philosopher, and 
friend of the whole family. 

Again, critics should remember the educational value 
of Industrial Insurance. The lessons of thrift and industry 
which it inculcates in every member of the family, the 
sentiments of self-respect and confidence which it generates 
and cultivates in the individual, and the wholesome in- 
fluence which it exerts over the family in its relation to the 
outside world are each sufficient to recommend it to the 
favour of those by whom it is so much needed. Industrial 
is the Kindergarten of Ordinary Life Assurance. The 
Industrial policy-holder is gradually persuaded to insure 
for ^50 or £100 on which the premiums can be paid 
quarterly. In this way thrift is promoted, and a substan- 
tial sum provided for a widow, which would at least keep 
the wolf from her door for a time and enable her to make a 
fresh start in life. 




134 



XXVII. 

Ambassadors of Insurance. 




; 



Not a day passes over the earth but 
men and women of no note do great 
deeds, speak great words, and suffer 
noble sorrows. Of these obscure heroes, 
philosophers and martyrs, the greater 
part will never be known till that hour 
when many that were great shall be 
small, and the small great. 

— Charles Reade. 

[EN and women of no note/' is the description which 
the average man applies to Life Assurance Agents. 
But very few women are employed in the insurance 
profession, because it is one which requires more per- 
severance than a woman possesses, and more knowledge 
than she is capable of acquiring. " The woman who rocks 
the cradle rules the world " is a pleasant bit of American 
flattery, but it is not true in fact. Anyhow, men secure 
all the Life business in the world. And in all the range of 
employments there is no business where a man can employ 

*35 



M 



j 



a higher grade oi ability ; none in winch he needs more 
knowledge, judgment, patience, industry, humanity, dignity 
and courage than in the Life assurance business. Any 
ordinary man can sell soap, or tea, or butter, but it takes 

a clever man to sell Life assurance. We are referring now , 
not to the agent who follows some other trade, or employ 
meat, but to the man with the special knowledge of in- 




A S [effield Ambassador 



surance knowledge which has taken him years to acquire ; 
to the man who gives his whole time to his Life's work, 
" We are obliged," remarked the Chairman of 'a London 
Company, "to go to the public through our Ambassadors.* 1 
The word is ambitious, suggesting a Royal minister, and 
the representative of King Edward ; but it is not inappro- 
priate, considering the nature and value of the work 

r 3 6 



accomplished by an Agent. The ability oi [nsurancd 
Ambassadors is frankly acknowledged by actuaries 
' A* tuaries," admits an Edinburgh Actuary, "would be bul 
.1 feeble folk and small il there were nol abler men thap they 
ou i on the highways compelling proposers to come in. 
All here must know thai it is a much easier thing to sit 
snugly m a comfortable room al Head Office calculating a 
rate thai is to fighl the elements in getting al a probable 
proposer, and, having gol al him, to drag him successfully 
on! oi the unreasonableness, or ' cussedness, 1 into which he 
and possibly more so, his wife has intrenched himself." 




A New Zealand Ambassador. 



In short, the man who gets the business is the greatest 
man in the [nsurance world. 

It is a singular fact thai very few people insure themselves 
voluntarily. This indifference to duty arises in pari from 
inborn stupidity, and partly from ignorance oi the subject. 
They know nothing aboul it, and many don't want, to 

know. They are mere animals, without any thought for 
the future. And when a man has been allowed to grow up 

in ignorance oi what is required from him as a bread- 
winner and a citizen, it is a giant's task to educate him 
(jnt of selfishness. That should have been done when he 

137 



was taught his A. B. C. But the schoolmaster ignored the 
subject ; the parson ignored it from the pulpit, and not 
only ignored it, but preached against it. Moreover, 
Insurance Companies neglected to take steps to systematic- 
ally educate the public. The result of this indifference is 
that millions of people remain in ignorance of the cardinal 
facts of life assurance. This is why it requires a superior 
type of man to secure proposals. What he has accom- 
plished we have already recorded, but large as the total is, 
we believe that Life assurance is only in its infancy. The 
time will come when insurance will become universal 
among all commercial and business men. 

It is worthy of note for social and moral reformers that 
the business of all the Companies has been accomplished, 
not by shot and shell, not by the baton of the policeman, 
but by the quiet, plodding, systematic work of Agents, 
who have gone out into the highways and byways coaxing, 
persuading and entreating people to secure life assurance. 
In fact, Insurance is the greatest moral reform movement 
in the world. Parliament has not helped it ; the Church 
has not helped it ; the Religious World has not helped it ; 
public men have not helped it. " Alone we have done it," 
the Agent can exclaim with truth. And yet he has never 
received the slightest recognition from the State. 

" A king can mak a belted knight, 
A marquis, duke and a' that ; 
But an honest man's aboon his might 
Guid faith, he maunna fa' that." 

King Edward can, and does, make knights out of very 
commonplace materials. The butter and bacon merchant, 
the brewer of ale, the schemer who props up some rotten 
political party, the parasites of society, each of these 
creatures receives either a Knighthood or a Baronetcy, but 
the man who has made thousands of homes happy, and 
who has been the instrument of keeping tens of thousands 
of people out of the workhouse, is absolutely ignored. In 
truth, he does not seek Kingly honours, nor does he want 
them. His work is his own reward, and his motto that of 
Dr. Guthrie : 

133 



I live for those that love me, 

For those that know me tni3, 
For the heaven that smiles above me 

And waits my coming, too ; 
For the cause that needs assistance, 
For the wrongs that need resistance, 
For the future in the distance, 
For the good that I can do. 




A Manchester Ambassador. 

[TT Unlike most men, the Insurance Agent is engaged in a 
mission of unsullied benefaction to the human race. He 
represents the greatest movement in the world for up- 
lifting humanity. There are other movements which 
profess to have the same object in view, but most of them 
are destructive, rather than constructive like the Insurance 
Movement. Insurance men and Companies injure nobody^ 

139 



pull nobody down into the gutter, fill no prison, and rob 
nobody of his living. Their one aim is to keep the wolf 
from the door of the widow — to protect the man and his 
family from c< the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." 
Insurance is doing this work every hour of the day — every 
minute of the hour. While politicians are wrangling about 
reform, and making no progress, while parsons are squab- 
bling over the Education Bill, while teetotalers are hounding 
the publicans, and the Puritans the frail sisters of the 
street, Insurance Agents are making the world brighter 
every day. That is more than can be claimed by other business 
men. In fact, the majority of successful business men have 
achieved success by taking advantage of others, by sharp 
practice, and by telling lies. Moreover, nearly all the great 
moneyed men, the gold bugs of America, and the millionaires 
of England, bear the brand of Cain on their foreheads ; 
they have accumulated wealth by fleecing the workers ; 
by dashing the weakest of their competitors against a stone 
wall ; by plunder and rascality. 

But none of these things can be urged against insurance 
agents. True, there are blacklegs among agents as among 
parsons ; but, on the whole, agents are honest men. Cer- 
tainly, their work always proves a blessing, not to the 
policy-holder only, but to his family, and to the nation. 
11 No one who has made himself acquainted with your 
stupendous work," remarked the poet Whittier, " can fail 
to see in it a vast beneficence, a step towards the abolition 
of poverty, a check to the hazardous speculations prompted 
by the necessity of gain for the benefit of posterity, a 
grateful relief to homes saddened by worry and anxiety." 

To make a happy fireside clime, 

To weans and wife, 
That's the true pathos, and sublime 

Of human life. 

Burns. 






140 



XXVIII. 

His Last Will and Testament. 




" Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift." 

— Romeo to Juliet. 

THE man who holds a Life Assurance policy, whether 
for ^ioo or for ^100,000, is a man of property ; and, 
unlike other property, an insurance policy never 
shrinks. It is always worth its face value, whenever it may 
fall due. " Like traders," explains a London Actuary , 
" we issue promissory notes subject to a due performance 
of the contract. At death we promise to pay the sum 
assured, and we provide therefor." That is pure life 
assurance — protection for the family. But before his heirs 
can secure payment of his insurance money, the policy- 
holder must leave his " last Will and Testament." 

Many people have a superstitious aversion to making a 
Will ; hence it often happens that this duty is left till the 
last moment, and anybody standing at the bedside has to 
prepare it. Here is the testimony of a lawyer's clerk, 
which ought to point a moral to the man who has so far 
failed to put on record his desires for the disposal of his 
property : "I have witnessed some strange scenes in 
connection with the making of Wills, which should teach 
anyone who has not done so already the necessity of not 
delaying that important duty. One of my saddest ex- 
periences was whilst I was engaged in , and I 

shall never forget the feelings which took possession ofjne 

141 



at the time. I had to attend at the house of a well-known 
•clergyman, who was suffering from heart disease, to attest 
his Will, and it was a most painful sight to see a man whom 
I had known in the full vigour of health struck down, and 
almost incapable of doing the least thing. He was in a 
most pitiable condition, and the remembrance of this and 
similar scenes has always impressed upon me the folly of 
delaying to the very last that which should be done in 
perfect health — the disposition of one's property. " 

There is yet another fact for the superstitious to bear in 
mind, and it is this : If you fail to make your Will, you 
will put your wife to an enormous amount of trouble and 
expense, and the Crown will deliberately rob her of half 
her rights. A dear penalty to pay for carelessness and 
stupidity, isn't it ? Don't you feel inclined to call yourself 
a human blockhead for delaying your duty ? — a duty which 
costs you no trouble. You need not go to a lawyer, and 
you need not spend more than five minutes in drawing up 
your Will. This was Matthew Arnold's : — 

" July 2 1 st, 1862. — I leave everything of which I 
die possessed to my wife, Frances Lucy Arnold. 

Matthew Arnold." 
This Will is perfectly correct in form, but faulty, because 
no executor is appointed to carry out the Will. The absence 
of the appointment of executors does not, however, render 
the Will void. Where a man can trust his wife to take 
care of his children, or where he wishes to leave all his 
property to his wife, he should follow the example of Mr. 
W. F. Tillotson, of Bolton, whose " last Will and Testa- 
ment " is a model of simplicity and completeness : — 

" I give all my property to my wife, and appoint 
her to be executrix of this Will." * |§ |R- gh > 
Although not absolutely necessary that a solicitor should 
draw up your Will, there is an element of satisfaction in 
feeling that you have had legal advice. 



142 



XXIX. 

Proof of Death. 

" Be still, sad heart ! and cease repining ; 
Behind the clouds the sun is shining ; 
Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
Into each life some rain must fall, 
Some days must be dark and dreary." 

— Longfellow. 

BEFORE an insurance company can pay a claim, proof 
of death and title to the money must be given. " I 
remember/' remarks an Actuary, "having difficulty 
in getting a woman to understand what proof of death and 
title meant. She had come straight from her husband's 
death-bed to the office, and laid the policy on the counter, 
as she would have done a bank note, expecting coin in 
exchange there and then. I pointed out to her that we 
had not received proof of her husband's death. ' Proof,' 
said she, ' I saw him die this morning, and I came off at 
once for his money.' I further objected that we had no 
evidence that it was she who was entitled to the proceeds 
of the policy. ' Evidence, sir,' she retorted ; ' I am his 
widow, and, of course, the money is mine.' " 

How characteristic of a woman ! She will howl like a 
whipped cur when an Agent approaches her husband to 
insure his life, but when the breath is hardly out of his 
body she will make a hop, skip, and a jump in double quick 
time to the Insurance Office to draw his money ! Life 
Assurance records are full of such experiences of women. 
A disconsolate young widow in Manchester was overhauling 
the clothes of her dead husband. She had always regarded 
him as a superior being, free from the vices of the average 
man. But when she discovered a pipe of tobacco in his 
pocket, she received an unpleasant shock — " Oh, George, 
George ! " she wailed, " you and I will never meet in 
Paradise." But another hunt in his roll- top desk revealed 
a Life policy for ^1,000, of whose existence she had not 
known. Then she changed her tune. " Oh yes, we will ! 
we will ! " she burst out with joy, " Heaven will forgive 

143 



him his one fault." It is impossible to understand a 
woman. She is an unknown continent. Her mind is a 
mysterious thing — a tangled skein of whims, wisdom, and 
contradictions. " The man who is able to govern a woman," 
declared Balzac, " is able to govern a nation." And 
Coventry Patmore wrote of her — 

A woman is a foreign land 

On which, though there he settle young, 

A man will ne'er quite understand 
The customs, politics and tongue. 




'She had always regarded him as a superior being." 



Anyhow, she can't draw her husband's money until proof 
of death and her right to the policy are submitted ; and 
when these are in order, and the leeches of the law satisfied, 
every Insurance contract is honourably and quickly paid. 

The steps to be taken to prove the death of the assured 

144 



to the satisfaction of British Offices seldom present any 
difficulty. In addition to a registrar's certificate of death, 
there are required, on forms supplied by the Company, a 
declaration by the physician who attended the deceased in 
his last illness, and a statement by a friend. The latter is 
simply for purposes of identification, to identify the John 
Smith who has died with the John Smith who was assured. 
The medical certificate is required to bring out certain 
information required by the statistical department of the 
Company — especially the date of death, and the precise 
nature of the fatal illness. Moreover, claimants for insur- 
ance money must produce proof that they are entitled to 
the money. A Probate of the Will is absolutely required. 
The proving of this, and the formalities connected with the 
payment of the Death Duties, are so troublesome, however, 
that it is better to place the whole matter in the hands of 
a solicitor. But a bargain must be made with him before 
he takes up the case. 

In the business of Life Assurance there is a wealth of 
incident and romance, such as the outer world little suspects. 
Here, for instance, is a remarkable case of an unknown 
man who committed suicide by throwing himself in front 
of a train. An inquest was held, no evidence of identifica- 
tion was forthcoming, and a verdict of felo-de-se was 
returned by the jury. A week elapsed, and a lady and her 
daughter presented themselves at the cemetery, and made 
a request for the exhumation of the body. This was 
readily complied with, for the body, being an unknown, was 
interred in an accessible grave. The lady identified the 
remains as those of her husband, from whom she had been 
temporarily separated, the daughter also recognising { her 
dead father. In due course, the bereaved lady presented 
to the Insurance Society a claim for the insurance money. 
Other evidence of identification was forthcoming, and the 
Society was on the point of paying the claim when the 
secretary expressed a desire to have some further inquiries 
made. These were undertaken, with a result surprising to 
most of the parties concerned. The missing man was 

k 145 



found alive and well, and the supposed widow was presented 
with a solatium in her lost husband, instead of the amount 
of his life policy. 

Cases of this kind are common enough. A man grows 
sick of the weary humdrum life he leads, and cuts himself 
adrift from his friends. Some people are blind and deaf to 
all external affairs. A magnificent specimen of this type 
was a London draper. At an inquest after a railway 
accident two witnesses identified the body as that of an 
individual of their acquaintance. A few weeks afterwards, 
however, he turned up, alive and well. " Did you not 
know," he was asked, " that you were sat upon by the 
coroner, and viewed by the jury, and buried ? " " Yes," 
he coolly replied, " I read something to that effect in a 
newspaper, but I didn't think it worth while to say any- 
thing." But there is method in the madness of most 
people who disappear mysteriously. They have an axe to 
grind. Rembrandt, the Dutch painter, suddenly dis- 
appeared from Amsterdam, and some time afterwards 
caused the news of his death to be circulated by his wife. 
People nocked in crowds to see the sorrowing widow, and 
purchasers outbid each other in their eagerness to secure 
a painting, a drawing, or a sketch by Rembrandt's master- 
hand. The whole of his stock was sold at excessive prices. 
His appearance a few months afterwards created no small 
amusement. 

A frequent trick of an impecunious policy-holder is to 
strip on the sea shore, leave his clothes, get inside another 
suit, and then take to his heels. This trick generally fails. 
A man's clothes were found on the beach at Margate. It 
was assumed that he was drowned. But an assumption 
did not satisfy the Insurance Company, and they declined 
to pay. An appeal to law resulted in a verdict for the 
Company, and by that verdict a Bank lost over ;£ 10,000 
and the family ^6,000. Everybody remembers the Isle of 
Man mystery. Thomas Johnson, a Huddersfield boot 
manufacturer, went out on a boating trip with one of his 
brothers in Port Erin Bay. The brother was rescued, 

146 



having been found clinging to a rock close to Bradda Head, 
while the boat in which both were was found close by. 
Thomas Johnson was never afterwards heard of, and his 
executors claimed the insurance money, amounting in all 
to ;/* 13,000. The arbitrator found that it had not been 
proved to his satisfaction that Thomas Johnson was 
drowned on July 23rd, 1896, or that he is dead, and he 
gave costs against the plaintiffs, including the costs of the 
award. 

Where Thomas Johnson is, does not concern us ; but he 
represents a type of man known to all Insurance Companies, 
and we quote these cases as illustrations of the importance 
of securing proof of death before admitting a claim. Even 
an ignorant woman will now understand why Insurance 
Companies demand proof before they pay a claim. She 
must not assume that they are rogues and thieves, because 
they refuse to honour fraudulent claims. In cases which 
do not appear fraudulent, and where proof of death cannot 
be obtained, the procedure is that when a person has been 
missing for a considerable time, and nothing has been 
heard of his or her whereabouts, the Probate Court has 
power, on application of the parties interested, to make 
an order presuming the death of the missing person. 

An interesting application was that heard recently for 
leave to presume the death of Mr. R. James Warner, 
formerly an officer in the Suffolk Regiment, who joined the 
ill-fated expedition of Hicks Pasha to the Soudan in 1883. 
nothing has been heard of him since he wrote a letter to 
his father, in which occurred the words, " We have cut off 
all connection with our base, and cannot retrace our steps. 
I believe it will be a case of the devil take the hindmost." 
As a matter of fact, the whole force was lost, and, according 
to Counsel, it was thought that Mr. Warner must have met 
his death in November, 1883. Since that time, however, 
he had become entitled to a share of a considerable sum 
of money — hence the necessity for making the application. 
Under the circumstances, leave was granted to presume the 
missing man's death since the month and year named. 

H7 



O undistinguished Dead ! 
Whom the bent covers or the rock-strewn steep 
Shows to the stars, for you I mourn, I weep, 

O undistinguished Dead ! 

None knows your name. 
Blackened and blurred in the w T ild battle's brunt, 
Hotly you fell . . . with all your wounds in front, 

This is your fame ! 

— Austin Dobson. 




148 




E 



XXX. 

rovident Authors. 

The unhappy man who once has 

trailed a pen 
Lives not to please himself, but 

other men ; 
Is always drudging, wastes his 

life and blood, 
Yet only eats and drinks what you 

think good. — Dryden. 

^VEN philosophers are not ex- 
empted from a desire to know all 
about the illustrious dead. 
Thus, Dr. Adam Smith, the famous political economist, 
confessed that he felt thankful for the information that 
John Milton wore latchets in his shoes, instead of buckles. 
We feel thankful for the information that some of our great 
literary heroes insured their lives, though their biographers 
tried hard to keep the information from us. As a matter 
of fact, the public rarely get a complete account of an 
author's life. When accused of mentioning " ridiculous 
anecdotes " in the " Lives of the Poets," Dr. Johnson 
replied that he should not have been an exact biographer 
if he had omitted them. " The business of such a one," 
he said, "is to give a complete account of the person 
whose life he is writing, and to discriminate him from 
all other persons by any peculiarities of character or senti- 
ments he may happen to have." 

We have not succeeded in securing much information 
concerning the insurances of eminent authors from In- 
surance Companies ; for, as far back as 1762, a solemn 
oath was taken by the directors and actuary of a certain 
old Office " never to disclose the names of persons making 
or applying for assurances," as if some disgrace attached 
to life assurance. In the case of the average man, who 
is unknown outside his own office, or his home, it is not a 
matter of public importance how much insurance he holds ; 
but in case of a literary hero of a past age every item 

149 



concerning his habits and his principles throws light upon 
his character, and is a matter of public interest. In 
the byeways of literature, and in other ways, we have 
gleaned some facts concerning the insurances of Sir Walter 
Scott, of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, of Robert Southey, 
of Charles Dickens, and of Wilkie Collins, which we venture 
to think will be of real interest to all intelligent men. 

There were many "peculiarities of character" about 
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet and metaphysician. One 
critic pronounces him a selfish, useless noodle, who deserted 
his family, stupefied himself with opium, and lived, like a 
tame cat, on other people most of his life. Another declares 
that he was the almost perfect model of what a man ought 
not to be, and that the less we remember of Coleridge the 
human being the better; and Mr. Leslie Stephen's opinion 
may be summed up in the following moral, which he drew 
from the poet's career : " Never marry a man of genius ; 
don't be his brother-in-law, or his publisher, or his editor, 
or anything that is his." 

But the poet has warm admirers, as well as cold critics. 
His most sympathetic biographer is Mr. Hall Caine, who 
pictures the poet in a new light. He proves that his hero 
was never a reckless Bohemian, but admits that he lacked 
strength and decision of character. In one respect he 
showed more forethought than his critics, for this " selfish, 
useless noodle " insured his life at an early period for a 
good round sum. One of his editors remarks : — 

" Little as he had been able to do while living for his family's 
enrichment, he was always anxious regarding them, and his 
executors found they had a sum of £2,665 to administer for 
their benefit, mainly resulting from an insurance on his own 
life he had maintained from an early period." 

Coleridge, it appears, took out a policy for ^1,000 in 
the Equitable Life Assurance Society, in April, 1803 
(when he was in his 31st year), at an annual premium of 
£27 5s. 6d. His total payments amounted to ^872 16s. 
At his death (in 1834), the Society paid his executors 
the sum of ^2,560. It was fortunate for Coleridge that 
he lived at a time when no medical examination was 

150 



required, for "he was never robust. He had suffered from 
M rheumatism and gout, complicated by other disorders " ; 
but at the time he insured his life it is stated that he had 
" recovered from physical 'prostration," although under the 
spell of opium. 

The author of " The Woman in White " advocated 
Life assurance in his most famous novel, but was not heavily 
insured himself. He effected a policy for five thousand 
dollars (£1,000) on the 12th February, 1874, in the New 
England Mutual Life Assurance Company. He was then 
fifty years of age. His premium was 235 dollars, which 
was paid annually for sixteen years. His " distribution " 
or bonus amounted to 898 dollars, or about £180, and his 
premiums paid came to £752 ; so that his policy for £1,000 
cost him £572. It is worthy of note that the policy was 
drawn in favour of " W. Wilkie Collins." 

It is not surprising to learn that the plodding, systematic, 
and industrious book-maker, Robert Southey, was well 
insured . " My life insurance is £4,000," he joyfully 
announces to. his friend, Grosvenor C. Bedford. This sum 
was not insured under one policy, for his Letters show 
that he increased his insurances as his family increased. 
Moreover, Southey took pleasure in speculating upon 
the probable amount of future bonuses at a time when that 
term would hardly have been intelligible outside the little 
world of insurance. Further, he appears to have been 
an enthusiastic advocate of Life assurance ; for in 1823 
it is recorded that Charles Lamb sent the following reply 
to his friend : — " I am in a public office, and my life is 
insured." 

Southey had not the advantage of being in a " public 
office," so we find him, in his 64th year, discussing the 
question of taking out another policy upon his life. As a 
matter of fact, he had two policies in the Equitable Life 
Assurance Society. The first — for £1,000 — was taken out 
in March, 18 10 (in his 36th year), at an annual premium 
°f £3°- I 3 S - He paid £1,042 in premiums, and the value 
of his policy at death (in 1843) amounted to no less than 
£2,700. The second policy — for £3,000 — was effected 

151 






in November, 1813, at an annual premium of ^101 18s. 6d. 
His payments came to ^3,057 15s. ; whilst the value of 
his policy at death reached the handsome sum of ^7,305. 
The Society thus paid over ^10,000 in respect of the two 
assurances for ^4,000. 

The anxieties of authorship have often been pictured to the 
beginner, in order to deter him from devoting himself 
entirely to literary pursuits. But Southey had always 
enough and to spare. His trade was authorship — a 
risky trade at the best of times ; but anxiety about his 
worldly fortunes never cost him a sleepless night. His 
disposition was hopeful, his habits were methodical, his 
wants were few ; " and, relying on Providence," he says, 
" I could rely upon myself." Like Oliver Cromwell, he 
had great faith in " Number One " ; and, while trusting 
Providence, he kept his powder dry by insuring his life. 

The subject of Life Assurance had considerable attractions 
for Charles Dickens, who has dealt with it in its humorous 
as well as its practical side. There are numberless references 
to the question in his novels. How often have the readers 
of " Martin Chuzzlewit " smiled over the adventurous 
audacity of Montague Tigg, the clever imposter who had 
exploited that bubble insurance office, the Anglo-Bengalee, 
on the " wild-cat " principle of receiving premiums and 
not paying losses. In " Nicholas Nickleby " we are told 
that the grandfather, under the strain of pecuniary distress, 
impressed with the necessity of making some provision 
for his family, was seriously revolving in his mind a little 
commercial speculation of insuring his life next quarter-day, 
and then falling from the top of the Monument by accident. 

An illustration of the practical side of Life Assurance 
occurs in Household Words (Vol. X., p. 365), in an article 
in which he advises everybody to insure. Shortcomings 
Charles Dickens may have had ; inconsistency he certainly 
cannot be accused of. As early as 1838, before he began 
to taste the sweets of fame, he sought the protection 
which Life Assurance gives to all who can pass the sentinel 
at the gate, and here is a facsimile of his application : — 

152 



Dickens failed to pass the scrutiny of the directors of the 
Society. Though rejected, he was not disheartened. 
When he became famous, he took out a policy for ^5,000 in a 
London Office, and this sum, together with a very handsome 
bonus, was paid to his legal representatives. In July, 
1854, when he was 43, he took out a policy for ^100 ; 
and in July, 1862, a further policy for /400. Both these 
policies were in force at the time of his death. When asked 




Charles Dickens. 



for a proof of his age, he wrote in the proposal form : 

" My age was proved for the Life Office, where I have 

long been largely insured " ; and " W. H. Wills " was a 
witness to the signature. 

In the ledgers of Insurance Companies, as well as in the 
catalogues of libraries, the greatest name among men of 
letters is that of Sir Walter Scott, who held policies for 

154 



£22,000. Unfortunately for his family, they were seized 
by his creditors. That he made blunders in joining the 
Ballantynes, his printers and publishers, there can be no 
doubt ; but as a business man he will always hold a high 
place among men of letters, who, as a class, are certainly 
not gifted with the commercial instinct. 

Sir Walter was not only a policy-holder, but a director of 
two Scotch Life Assurance Companies. In 1824, he accepted 
the office of Honorary Governor of the Company, and 
continued to hold it until his death, in 1832. He presided 




Sir Walter Scott. 



at its meetings ; and under date " November 21st, 1827," 
a record of the debate is published " whether the ordinary 
Acting Directors should or should not have a small sum 
amounting to about a crown apiece allotted to them each 
day of their regular attendance." The proposal appears 
to have been discussed with considerable warmth ; and 
the Chairman has given us a graphic illustration of one of the 
speakers : — 

" A china merchant spoke — a picture of an orator, with bandy 
legs, squinting eyes, and a voice like an ungreased cartwheel — 



a liberty boy, I suppose. The meeting was somewhat stormy 
but I preserved order *by listening with patience to each in turn, 
determined that they should weary out the patience of the 
meeting before I lost mine. An orator is like a top ; let him 
alone, and he must stop one time or another ; flog him, and he 
may go on for ever." 

The proposal was rejected — impoliticly rejected, records 

the Chairman, who remarks : — 

" The sound of five shillings is shabby, but the fact is, that 
it does in some sort reconcile the party to whom it is offered 
to leave his own house and business at an exact hour ; whereas, 
in the common case, one man comes too late, another does not 
come at all, the attendance is given by different individuals 
upon different days ; so that no one acquires the due historical 
knowledge of the affairs of the Company. Besides, the directors, 
by taking even this trifling sum of money, render themselves 
the paid servants of the Company, and are bound to use a certain 
degree of diligence, much greater than if they continued to serve, 
as hitherto, gratuitously. The pay is like enlisting money, 
which, whether great or small, subjects to engagements under 
the articles of war." 

In the infancy of Life Assurance it seems that many 
influential men lent the use of their names and gave their 
services to public movements ; but it would be easier 
nowadays to find a white elephant than an honorary 
director of an insurance company. That directors ought 
to be paid for their services admits of no dispute ; but 
some of them would be dear at half-a-crown a sitting, 
whilst others would be cheap at one hundred guineas. 

Sir Walter was also connected with the " Edinburgh Life," 
both as a policy-holder and asa" director extraordinary " ; 
and he has given, in his Diary, an interesting account of the 
proceedings at one of the meetings of the Board. " There 
were there," he records, " moneyers and great oneyers,* 
men of metal — counters and discounters — sharp, grim, 
prudential faces ; eyes weak with ciphering by lamplight ; 
'men who say to gold, ' Be thou paper,' and to paper, 
* Be thou turned into fine gold.'." The " Edinburgh Life " 
is proud of its connection with the author of Waverley, 
and has published a facsimile of the policy issued to Sir 
Walter Scott in the year 1824. 

•"Gadshill. — I am joined with .... nobility and tranquillity, burgo- 
masters and »;t'«/ oneyers." — King Henry IV., Act II., Scene i. 

156 



We have been unable to secure particulars of all Sir 
Walter's policies, but they appear to have been effected 
in connection with mortgages or loans, judging from the 
following extract from his letter to J. B. S. Morritt, Rokeby 
Park, 20th November, 1813. 

" I have been able to redeem the offspring of my brain, 
and they are like to pay me like grateful children. This matter 
has set me a-thinking about money more seriously than I 
ever did in my life, and I have begun by insuring my life for 
^4,000, to secure some ready cash to my family should I slip 
girths suddenly. I think my other property, library, etc., 
may be worth about ^12,000, and I have not much debt." 

" Present-day Authors " might redeem the offspring of 
their brain by taking out endowment assurance policies 
which would pay them like " grateful children," and make 
old age easy and comfortable for themselves, or for their 
dependents. Much has been said about the improvidence 
of Burns ; but Burns, for obvious reasons, could not insure 
his life. Scott could, and — did. There are hundreds of 
authors who could follow Sir Walter Scott's example. 
Mrs. Oliphant, in her last book wrote very strongly upon 
their improvidence. She asserted that among literary 
people it is a common and insane delusion that the power' 
of earning money will never cease, or even diminish, and 
she emphasised the point that a man was a fool who in 
the seven fat years failed to provide for the inevitable 
years of leanness. This could be done by means of Life 
Assurance. 




157 



XXXI. 

Cornelius Walford. 

Born 1827 ; died 1885. 



****** 




For all he did lie had a reason, 
For all he said a word in season, 
And ever ready was to quote 
Authorities for what he wrote. 

— Butler. 

A BARRISTER by profession, Mr. Walford's tastes 
were literary, rather than legal ; but his legal training 
made his services of peculiar value in connection with 
Life Assurance work. He became an authority in questions 
of law affecting Companies, and was consulted, not only 
by Home Offices, but by Foreign ones. He had a love for 
statistics, and his first work dealt with the subject of 
41 Decimal Coinage," published in 1855. This was followed, 
in 1858, by " The Insurance Guide and Handbook," which 
established his reputation. It was published anonymously 
by Mr. J. Hooper Hartnoll, founder of the Post Magazine, 
the author believing this to be the best method of securing 
fair play from the reviewers. It was " dedicated especially 

158 



to insurance agents," Mr. Walford pointing out in the 
preface " that a considerable portion of the business of an 
Office is obtained through the instrumentality of intelligent 
and persevering Agents." 

In order to render it absolutely trustworthy, the publisher 
entered into a compact with the author " that the work 
shall not contain any passage indicative of praise or censure 
of particular Offices." Insurance agents appear to have 
been of a more generous disposition thirty years ago than 
they are to-day ; for the book had a large sale among them. 
A second edition was published in 1867 by Messrs. Charles 
and Edwin Layton. Mr. Walford changed his publisher 
but not his principles ; for, in the preface, the following 
announcement was made : 

" My present publishers have bsen as indulgent to me as my 
former publisher ; they have, at considerable pecuniary sacrifice, 
abstained from seeking advertisements from the Insurance 
Offices, and from every other step that could in the smallest 
degree detract from the independent character of the book. It 
went its own way without fear or favour in its early youth : 
I desire it to do so now." 

The success of " The Insurance Guide and Handbook " 
was even greater in the United States, where it was known 
as the Red Book. It was, of course, pirated ; but the 
author is said to have forgiven the publisher, because the 
book made him so many friends in the United States. Mr. 
Watford's magnum opus is, however, the Insurance Cyclo- 
pedia, the first volume of which was published in 1871. 
Unfortunately, death removed him before he had completed 
his great undertaking, only six volumes being published. 
He had the largest collection of insurance books in the 
world, and took great pride in showing it to his friends. 
Visitors were only allowed in the room during the day ; 
at night, the doors were hermetically sealed. His books 
were considered too valuable to be injured by gas, and 
their owner was so much afraid of an accident that no 
candle was permitted inside any of the rooms. Yet, to the 
favoured few, Mr. Walford gave free access to his magnifi- 
cent collection. 

The disposal of this fine library formed the subject of 

159 



considerable discussion in the insurance journals. By his 
will, Mr. Walford desired to establish " The Walford 
Chronological Institute/' and provided for the preservation, 
in suitable rooms, of his accumulations of literary matter, 
but these provisions failed in consequence of legal diffi- 
culties which arose. A desire was expressed that the 
Institute of Actuaries should purchase the library intact ; 
but, as a great proportion of the works related to news- 
papers, shorthand, and other subjects, this suggestion could 
not be carried out. Eventually, the collection was pur- 
chased intact by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of 
the United States, and has been divided into two parts, 
stored at the Head Office, but accessible to students. One 
part constitutes a section of the Equitable Law Library ; 
the other a section of the Equitable Assurance Library, 
which is very extensive, and is especially rich in full sets 
of insurance Reviews and Magazines. It contains, says the 
Equitable Record, 4,100 publications relating to all kinds of 
insurance, which was bought from the estate of Cornelius 
Walford at London in the year 1885. At the time of its 
purchase, the librarian of the London Institute of Actuaries 
wrote of it : "As a collection of books on the subject of 
insurance, whether fire, life, accident, or marine, the 
Walford collection stands easily facile princeps, and bears . 
testimony to the amount of energy, skill, and perseverance 
spent in its foundation." 

Our recollections of Mr. Walford are of a most pleasant 
character. We came to know him through correspondence . 
We had asked his opinion about some question relating to 
Phonography. Instead of ignoring the letter, as many a 
busy man would have done, he replied at length. Other 
letters followed on literary matters in which we were 
interested. We presented him with our collection of 
newspapers, and helped him in collecting materials for his 
Dictionary of Periodical Literature. In return, he gave us 
much assistance in the preparation of our Ipook on practical 
journalism ; for he was an authority on newspaper, as well 
as insurance work. 

160 



XXXII. 

Samuel Smiles and Robert Chambers. 

" Why should that name be sounded more than yours ? 
Write them together ; yours is as fair a name ; 
Soiuid them ; it doth become the mouth as well ; 
Weigh them ; it is as heavy." 

— Julius C^sar, i. 2. 

NO man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money," 
declared Dr. Johnson. If this dictum be sound, 
what a crowd of blockheads we have had in 
the world ! Certain if is that writers fight shy of insurance. 
It is a dry subject, and there is no money in it. No maga- 
zine editor will accept an article on it unless he is backed 
by insurance companies. A man runs a magazine, not 
to promote the welfare of the community, but to make 
money. A publisher does the same. He won't even look 
at the manuscript of a book on Life Assurance, much less 
run the risk of publishing it. He shakes his head when 
the subject is. broached. No money in it ! The public is a 
public of fools. A graphic account of a dog fight in Fleet- 
street would sell more newspapers than a verbatim report 
of a speech by a " statesman;" a theatrical scandal, or a 
divorce case, is a better subject than even a dog fights 
After all, public taste has not changed very much in a 
century. Bishop Home had his dignity somewhat taken 
down when he took possession of the episcopal palace at 
Norwich, in 1791. He turned round upon the steps, 
and exclaimed, " Bless us ! bless us ! what a multitude of 
people ! "• " Oh, my lord," said a bystander, " this is 
nothing to the crowd last Friday to see a man hanged." 

No ; a man who wants to make money by his pen must 
play to the gallery. Do you know a single novelist who 
ever writes upon a public question or upon anything likely 
to benefit the public ? The same question applies to 
playwrights. Plays are written mainly for imbeciles. You 
must write a play to suit representatives of all sections — - 
stalls, pit, dress circle, and gallery — whilst those you have 

l 161 



mainly to please are in the pit, crying and sucking oranges. 
That was why Moliere selected his housekeeper to read 




Dr. Samuel Smiles. 



to — she was the symbol of general intelligence — and why Fox 
always used to talk over every measure first with Lord B., 

162 



a notorious simpleton, for he used to say that if he knew 
what Lord B. thought of it, he was tolerably sure what 
the verdict would be from the British public generally. 
Playwrights, as well as novelists, act upon the advice of the 
poet : — 

" Take the world as you find it : 
Tickle the public and make it grin ; 
The more you tickle, the more you'll win. 
But teach the public — you"ll never grow rich ; 
You'll live like a beggar, and die in the ditch." 

That may be our fate, if we happen to spend the Endow- 
ment money too soon. Robert Chambers didn't die in a 
ditch, but then he was a fat publisher, and could afford to 
plead the cause of Life Assurance. Samuel Smiles is still 
outside the ditch, and has just celebrated the ninetieth 
anniversary of his birth. Like Robert Chambers, Samuel 
Smiles commended Life Assurance very strongly : " We 
look upon Dr. Smiles as a public benefactor , who deserves 
not only from us, but even from his country, an ample 
recognition of the important benefits he has conferred 
upon the present generation." These are not the words 
■of a partizan, but of the staid and sober Quarterly Review, 
and ought to be endorsed by every insurance manager 
in Britain at least ; for no author in the world has rendered 
greater service to the cause of Life Assurance. This worthy 
man thinks the subject so important that he devotes a 
special chapter to it in one of his best-known books — 
Thrift — in which he thus explains the A. B.C. of the subject : 

Life Assurance may be described as a joint-stock plan for 
securing widows and children from want. It is an arrange- 
ment by means of which a large number of persons agree to 
lay by certain small sums, called " premiums," yearly, to 
accumulate at interest, as in a savings bank, against the con- 
tingency of the assurer's death, — when the amount of the sums 
subscribed for is forthwith handed over to his survivors. By 
this means, persons possessed of but little capital, though enjoying 
regular wages or salaries, however small, may at once form a 
fund for the benefit of their family at death. 

We often hear of men who have been diligent and useful 
members of society, dying and leaving their wives and families 
in absolute poverty. They have lived in respectable style, 
paid high rents for their houses, dressed well, kept up good 

163 



visiting acquaintance, were seen at most places oi amusement 
ami broughl n i ) their children with certain idea > oi so< ial position 
and respectabilit) . but death has stricken them down, and 
what is the situation oi their lam dies ? I las the lather provided 
t. .1 the future ? 

From twenty to twenty-five pounds a year, paid into an 
Assurance Society, would have secured their widows .and children 
against absolute waid. Ilave they performed this duty? 
No they have done nothing <>i the kind ; it turns out that the 
family have been Living up to then- means, d not beyond them 




Robert ("ham bers. 



and the issue is, that the) are thrown suddenly bankrupt upon 
the world. 

Conduct such as this is not only thoughtless and improvident 
but heartless and ernel in the last degree. To bring a family 

into the world, give them refined tastes, and accustom them to 

comforts the loss oi which is misery, and then to leave the 



t,iiii:i\ to the workhouse, the prison, 01 the street, to the alma 
oi relativ< \ 01 to the charit) oi the public, is nothing ihort oi a 
crime done againsl lociety, as well as againsl the unfortunate 
duals who are the immediate lufierers. 

The progress oi Life Assurance in Scotland, as well as 
in England, owed much to Robert ( hambers, who wrote 
a 11 .in i' Le in 1 8 19. 1 Ee w as 1 n iui ed in an Edinburgh 
Office, 'vvliif.li made little pro ■■ first. "What can 

I do to promote its welfare?" he said to the Secretary, 
who -I an article in Chamber* 1 s Jouftial 9 2Li that time 

\\i<- mosl popular journal in the world. The requesl 
complied with, and in the next annual report oi the 
Office reference ivas made to the article on "The Means 
oi Enlightening the Public on the True Nature and ( < 
Utility ol Life Assurance/' One extract will give an id< t 
of its character : — 

it is iiii'jn' itionably the duty oi every man to provide while 

■ t Lives foi his own. We would say that it is not more his 

duty to provide for their daily bread during his Life than it 

1 to provide, as fai as he can, against their being lefl penniless 

in 1 be e\ ent oi hi 1 death. 

Robert Chambers and his brother William fought their 
way to the froni i on I: <>\ publishers, and have Left a name 
not Less renowned for integrity and goodness than for 
Literary judgment and remarkable business talent directed 
to the cause oi humanity, in the branch oi social economics 
Robert was at great pains to inculcate habits oi thrift 
and prudence, and has repeatedly explained the superioi 
advantages of Life Assurance over Other investments. 




165 




A JOURNAL OF INSURANCE EDUCATIONAL WORK. 



Edited by 



A. Arthur Reade. 



I. — BUSINESS is published monthly. Annual Subscription, 2s. 6d. ; 
if paid through a newsagent, 3s 6d. 

2. — BUSINESS represents the Insurance Movement. Its sole aim 
is to promote the public good. 

3. — BUSINESS is interesting from cover to cover ; it is full of bright 
paragraphs and useful articles, and is well illustrated. 



Business deals with insurance matters, and is business 
right through, though put together in an exceptionally 
readable style. — Progressive Advertising. 

I appreciate your smart little paper so much that I 
should be glad to have the complete eight volumes Is 
there any chance of getting them ? — Bank Manager, 
Swansea. 

By long odds, the brightest and most valuable publica- 
tion issued in Great Britain. — Insurance Advocate, New 
York. 

Our English contemporary, Business, begins the 
present year with a specially fine issue, enclosed within 
a new bright red cover. The paper is filled with bright, 
pithy articles and quotations which cannot fail to be 
helpful to the agent in his daily work. . . . Highly 
instructive and entertaining little publication. — The 
Bulletin, Toronto. 



Editor and Proprietor 



A. ARTHUR READE, WUmslow, 

Near Manchester. 



PERSONS desiring to effect LIFE 
ASSURANCES under the most 
Favourable Conditions are invited to read 
the recently issued Septennial Reports of 



THE 



Qcottish Widows' Fund 

(Mutual) Life Assurance Society 

A Great Bonus-Yielding Office, 

Containing a Valuation Bala?icc Sheet and other 
information bearing on the prospects of New 
Entrants, with a Table of Bonuses added to every 
existing policy issued during the last 50 years. 



Funds over - - £16,300,000. 
Revenue - £1,700,000. 



Edinburgh : 9, St. ANDREW SQUARE. 
London : 28, CORNHILL, & 5, WATERLOO PLACE. 



Dublin, 41, Westmoreland Street. 
Glasgow, 114, West George Street. 
Liverpool, 48, Castle Street. 
Manchester, 21, Albert Street 



Leeds, 21, Park Row. 
Bristol, 28, Baldwin Street. 
Birmingham, 12, Bennett's Hill. 
Belfast, 2, High Street. 



Newcastle-on-Tyne, 12, Grey Street. 



Agencies in all Important To:vns in the Kingdoin. 



A RECORD BREAKER. 




H< 



OW do plate glass 
win dows get 
smashed? Sometimes by- 
hilarious men and women 
who amuse themselves by 
heaving brick bats at the 
windows of their friends ; 
sometimes by naughty- 
little boys with a griev- 
ance against the owners ; 
sometimes by the harmless 
cow through seeing the 
reflection of herself* As 
a rule, however, mad 
bulls and runaway horses 
are responsible for the 
majority of plate-glass smashes* But here's the funniest case 
brought to notice. 

"We have to-day," writes Mr. Mallam Williams, "been 
called upon to make good a claim at Chelmsford caused by a 
cow tossing a pig into the window. This cow, I think, is a 
record breaker/' The incident suggests the rhyme of ancient 
days, but revised up-to-date : 

This is the cow with the crumpled horn, 

That tossed poor piggy all forlorn, 

That broke the glass 

That he tried to pass, 

That was insured in the London and General 

Plate Glass Insurance Company. 



All Descriptions of Glass insured at Equitable Rates 



ESTABLISHED 
l86l. 



London and General 
Plate Glass Insurance Co. 



19, HAYMARKET, LONDON, S.W. 



ESTABLISHED 1809. 



North British and Mercantile 

INSURANCE COMPANY. 

FIRE, LIFE, and ANNUITIES. 

Incorporated by Royal Charter and Special 
Acts of Parliament. 



Total Funds m m .,1901 x™ £15,700,000 
Income asou - - - £3,308,000 



LIFE DEPARTMENT. 

NINETY PER CENT, of the profits in the Life Department 
is distributed among the Assured on the Participating Scale. 
Profits are divided every five years. 

STRONG RESERVES. VALUABLE BONUSES. LIBERAL 
CONDITIONS. 



Policies on Male and Female 
Lives from £100 upwards. 

Family Settlement Policies in 
various forms. 



Endowments, Term Insur- 
ances, Survivorships. 

Interim Bonus Additions. 

Insurances payable in life- 
time, carrying Investment 
and Annuity Options. 



5 p / d Investment Policies. 

ANNUITIES. 

Annuities of all kinds granted on the most favourable terms. 

FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

Property of nearly every description at home and abroad issued at the 
Lowest Rates. Losses by Lightning, Damage by Explosion of Gas in 
buildings not torming part of any Gas Works made good. Rents of 
buildings insured. 

Net Fire Premiums in 1901, ,61 ,623,81 4 8s. 4d. 

SECURITY, LIBERALITY, & PROMPTITUDE 

in Settlement of Claims, are Characteristic of the Company. 



rhiaf Hfrlnnc f London: 61, THREADNEEDLE ST.. E.C. 
Uliei UlllCeS - (Edinburgh; 64. PRINCES STREET. 



Founded 1871. X M E 




OCEAN 

Accident and 
Guarantee . 
Corporation, Ltd. 

(Empowered by Special Act of Parliament.) 



Autn ■ £i|12u,30o 



- £1,000,000 

Subscribed ™ 



£621,540 



5TSS, 190,- £1,044,839 



Funds, 31st Dec , 1901 A -f OQ7 KftQ 

(excluding Uncalled Capital) * I, UU 1,000 

The Ocean Corporation issues the 

"Xeader" 9>o/iey 

against Accident and Disease, and it will be 
found to fully Justify its title. 

SEND FOR PROSPECTUS. 

Fidelity Guarantees* 

The Bonds of this Corooration are accepted 
by all Departments of H.M. Government. 

Workmen's Compensation* 
Burglary Insurance* 

Third Party Indemnities. 
Mortgage Insurance. 
Excess Bad Debt Insurance* 
Boiler and Lift Inspection and Insurance. 



g£, 36 to 44, Moorgate Street, LONDON, E.C. 

R* J* PAULL. General Manager &* Secretary. 



Rock Life 
Assurance Company. 



(ESTABLISHED 1806.) 



TRUSTEES. 

Wilfred Arthur Bevan, Esq. 

The Right Hon St. John Brodrick, M.P. 

Colonel Alfred George Lucas. 

The Right Hon. Lord Monk Bretton. 

Sir Charles Rugge- Price, Bart. 

The Hon Charles IIedley Strutt, M.P. 

Lord Edmund Bernard Talbot, M.P. 



WEALTH-SECURITY-STABILITY. 

Paid in Claims upwards of - £12,000,000 

Profits divided among Policy Holders = £4,140,600 



PROVISION FOR OLD AGE PENSIONS- 
LOW PREMIUM RATES FOR WITHOUT-PROFIT 

AND DEFERRED = PROFIT POLICIES. 

ANNUITIES FOR LIFE, OR FOR FIXED TERMS. 

SINKING FUND POLICIES. 



WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION-EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY 

INSURANCE. 

PERSONAL ACCIDENT— BURGLARY— FIDELITY INSURANCE. 



Branch Offices .- 

BELFAST, BIRMINGHAM, CARDIFF, GLASGOW, LEEDS, MANCHESTER, 

NORWICH. 

Chief Office .• 

15, NEW BRIDGE ST., LONDON, E.C. 

GEORGE S. CRISFORD, Actuary. 

Applications for Agencies Invited. 



THE 



Star Life Assurance Societj] 

Head Office : 32, Moorgate Street, London. 

Established 1843. 

Directors : 

Chairman- GEORGE LJDGETT, Esq. 
Deputy-Chairman— Sir GEORGE HAYTER CHUBB, Bart. 



I^ieut. Col. A. M. ArthVjr 

Rt. Hon. Sir H. Fowler, g.c.s.i.,m.p. 

Hon. G. J. Goschen, M.P. 

T. Morgan Harvey, Esq. 

Alexander McArthur, Esq., d l. 



Sir Horace Brooks Marshall 

William Mewburn, Esq. 

Sir Clarence Smith, d.l. 

Edward Spicer, Esq. 

Aid. & Sheriff G. Wyatt Truscott 



Jamks E. Vanner, Esq. 

Funds in Hand £5.600,000 

Claims Paid £7,000,000 

Annual Inccme £760,000 



Attractive Forms of Assurance* 

Particulars given in separate pamphlets. 

\ — "Early Assurances" for Children, without Medical Exam- 
ination. 

2 — "Annuities for Widows." 

3 -"Debenture Policies" assuring ^1,000 payable ten years 

after death, and £€>o per annum duiing that period. 

4 - "Special Twenty=Year" Endowment Assurances, providing 

payment of the Sum Assured, Bonus, and a Return of all 
Premiums paid if the Assured should die during the twenty 
years. 

5. — "The Five Per Cent" Policy, providing an Annuity of ^,50 
on attaining a given age, with payment of £ 1,000 at death. 

6.— "The Protected Policy." The " Protected " Policy issued 
by the Star Life Assurance Society is the r'olicyfor professional 
men, securing as it does the payment of the premium during 
temporary or total disablement from carrying on their pro- 
fessional duties. 

For particulars of above, and all other forms of Life Assurance, 
apply to— H. G, HOBSON, Actuary and Secretary, 



B ritish Suitable 

Assurance Company, 
QUEEN STREET PLAGE, LONDON, E c 



DIRECTORS .- 



Alfred Henry Bayncs, Esq. 
Francis Flint Belsey, Esq., J.P. 
Alfred Conder, Esq., F.R.I. B. A. 
William Henry Gover, Esq . 
LL.B. 



William Howse Groser, Esq., 

B.Sc. 
Montagu Holmes, Esq., F.S.I. 
William Henry Mills, Esq. 
Thomas Henry Wells, Esq. 



A UDITORS :— 

Harry Maynard Carter, Esq , F.S A A. 

Arnold Pye-Smith, Esq., J.P. 

James Henry Yoxall, Esq., M.P. 



WORLD-WIDE 

UNCONDITIONAL 

POLICIES. 



The Form of Policy adopted 
by the Company is free from 
all restrictions as to Foreign 
Travel and other Conditions 

Whole Life Policies made 
payable in Lifetime without 
extra Premium by application 
of profits. 



IMMEDIATE PAYMENT OF CLAIMS. SEPARATE USE POLICIES- 



LIFE ABSTAINERS SECTION 



Thrift Assurance for Children. 



ACCUMULATED FUND, £1,806,865. 
PAID IN CLAIMS, £2,696,275. 

JOHN WILKINSON FAIREV, Manager. 




WESLEYAN & GENERAL 

ASSURANCE SOCIETY. 

Established over Sixty Years* 
Empowered by Special Act of Parliament. 



CHIEF OFFICES : BIRMINGHAM. 

Branch Offices in all the Principal Towns, and 
Agencies throughout the Kingdom. 

London Branch Office- EVELYN HOUSE, 101, FINSBURY 

PAVEMENT, E.C. 
Manchester „ GROSVENOR CHAMBERS, 

DEANSGATE, 
Liverpool „ 132, BOLD STREET* 



Accumulated Funds exceed £700,000 

Total Claims Paid exceed £3,000,00a 



Reports, Prospectuses, &c, may be had upon application. 

R. ALDINGTON HUNT, F.S.S-, A.LA., 

General Manager* 




The Equitable Life 
Assurance Society 
of the United States. 

HENRY B. HYDE, Founder. 



-t-# ♦ • 



THE EQUITABLE, since its formation in 1859, 
acting by its own initiative, under able and con- 
servative management, has introduced reforms 
in the administration of Life Assurance, which have 
largely modified the methods and practice of existing 
Companies. These reforms have also enabled the 
Society itself to attain the pinnacle of eminence and 
power on which it stands to-day. 

The remarkable progress of the Equitable is clearly 
set forth in the various publications that it issues, which 
give ample and explicit details of its business. 

The Equitable is distinguished for the variety of its 
contracts, which have reduced the protection of life, 
and the investment of money, to a science ; affording 
absolute protection, together with the best interest for 
money, which can be found in securities of a satisfactory 
nature. 

One feature of the Society which is much considered 
and highly regarded, is its massive surplus over all 
liability. For the current year (1903) this stands at 
over £15,400,000 sterling. 

The financial growth and stability of the Equitable 
afford the most remarkable record of Life Assurance 
Statistics known to the world. 



REFUGE ASSURANCE 
COMPANY, LTJ). 



Chief Office: 

OXFORD STREET, MANCHESTER. 

London City Office : 29, NEW BRIDGE STREET, E.C 

Branch Offices in all the principal towns throughout the Kingdom. 



Annual Premium Income exceeds £1,625,000, 

Showing an Increase of £120,000 over the Income of 1901. 

Claims Paid in 1902 over £645,000. 
Total Amount Paid on Claims £7,200,000. 







EXAMPLES 


> OF 


CLAIMS PAID. 


Policy 
No 


q o 
< 


With 

or 

without 

Profits. 


Prems. 
Paid. 


Amount of Claim 
Paid. 


Excess 
of Claim. 


Date of 
Payment 


Sum 
Assured 


Bonus. 


143,578 
133,640 
172,382 


£ 
50C 

500 

500 


With 
With 

With 


£ s. d. 
75 3 4 

45 

20 10 


£ 

500 

500 
500 


£ s. d. 
12 

21 

7 


£ s. dj 
436 16 8j 18th Feb., 1902 

476 26th Mar., 1902 

486 10 3rd April, 1902 



All Claims are settled immediately on proof of Death- 
Prospectuses, Forms of Proposal, and every information may be 
obtained at the Chief Office or of the Agents. 

R. TO. GREEN, ) General 

JOHN W. PROCTOR, ) Managers. 



WANTED. 



RESPECTABLE Energetic Men 
as Agents and Canvassers by the 

LONDON, EDINBURGH & GLASGOW 

Assurance Company Limited. 

ESTABLISHED 1881. 



The Claims and Grants paid by the Company now 

exceed 

£2,000,000. 

The Premium Income for 1902 amounted to 

£449,019. 

SPLENDID OPPORTUNITY 
FOR PROMOTION . . . 



Over 50 Vacancies ready for Assistant 
Superintendents suitably qualified. 



Apply by Letter, giving full particulars — 

T. NEILL, General Manager, 
Insurance Buildings, Farringdon St., London, E.C. 




1810 



1903 



OFFICE. 



LIFE AND ENDOWMENT ASSURANCES 

WITHOUT MEDICAL EXAMINATION. 



Proposals for Assurances now entertained 

for sums of £500 or upwards at ordinary 

Tabular Rates of Premium. 



Apply for New Prospectus to 

THE GENERAL MANAGER, 
63, Thread needle Street, London, E.C. 



N.B. — Applications for Agencies invited. 



s 



NORWICH UNION 



MUTUAL 
LIFE 
*r«><* OFFICE. 

UNITED WITH THE 

AMICABLE SOCIETY. 

THE OLDEST LIFE OFFICE IN THE WORLD. 

CUIMS PAID EXCEEO 

£22,000,000 STERLING. 



Results of Quinquennial Valuation, 1901 : 

(1) RESERVES FOR LIABILITIES ON 2J PER CENT. BASIS. 

(2) LARCEST BONUS EVER DECLARED BY THE SOCIETY. 





Progress during Past Ten Years. 




New Insurances. Annual Income. Funds. 


1891 


£958,521 £273,515 £1,960,437 


1898 


- £1,505,043 £570,098 £3,310,084 


1901 


- £2 


,721,617 £766,082 £4,422,426 



s9 £G\M 



Write for full particulars, stating age 
and requirements, to 

THE SECRETARY, 

Head Office, NORWICH. 



" There is no doubt about the strength of its 
position.*' — I he Ti?7ies. 

" The Norwich Union Life Insurance Society 
is stronger than ever — stronger in funds, in 
income, in connections, in resources, and in 
reputation. . . . It is the ideal office for a policy- 
holder." — Local Government foumal. 



*< 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
I I III II III III li 



027 279 829 1 



